Journal articles on the topic 'Variations (4 horns)'

The objectives of this paper are to analyze whether there is a significant difference among widely used Higgins model and Van Horne model and whether these two competing sustainable growth rate models (SGR) estimate divergences in ways that are systematically related to variations in common financial characteristics. We find that Higgins SGR when used as continuous and dichotomous variables is more affected by variations in financial characteristics than Van Hornes model. This study confirms that Higgins and Van Hornes models are qualitatively and approximately the same in relation to most common financial characteristics of a firm. However, if the Higgins model is used to compute SGR, it would give higher SGR for more profitable firms than Van Hornes. A firm with higher leverage is given higher SGR in Van Hornes than Higgins. Variations of liquidity, debt maturity and financial distress are trivial in economic sense. Finally, we find that the both Higgins and Van Hornes models result in approximately same (less than 4%) loss in sample size and not induce more sample-selection bias. We suggest that Higgins and Van Hornes models are equally preferable from both the managers and researchers point of view.

A dogma of mammalian reproduction states that primordial germ cells in females are restricted to the intrauterine phase and only small portions of oocytes are available for ovulation during the adult life. Among the rare exceptions to this rule is the plains viscacha. It polyovulates up to 800 oocytes per cycle, from which 10 to 12 are implanted, but only 1 to 2 conceptuses survive. To better understand the main mechanisms involved in these patterns of super-ovulation, super-implantation, and embryonic loss in the viscacha, we conducted an analysis of the ovary and uterus of pregnant females and their conceptuses. Pregnant females (n = 16) of ~50 and 90 days of gestation (early to mid-gestation) were selected for conceptus recovery. Hemi-ovariohysterectomy was performed following surgical and anaesthetic protocols used for laboratory animals and the conceptuses collected. Female fetuses of Day 50 (n = 2) and 90 (n = 1) of gestation were obtained from Estación de Cría de Animales Silvestres, Buenos Aires, Argentina. The reproductive organs were investigated by means of gross morphology, histology (hematoxilin and eosin), stereology (quantification of the volume of the ovary and number of ovary follicles), immunohistochemistry (PCNA, Oct-4, VEGF, and Caspase-3), and transmission electron microscopy. In the Day 50 fetal samples, the ovaries had an ovoid shape with smooth surface without apparent folds. First steps of subdivision were observed in the ovary of fetus of 90 days. The total volume of all fetal ovaries was of 4.8 mm2 and a coefficient of variation (CV) of 0.32. The ovaries of adult individuals had remarkable invaginations with surface projections and were small, asymmetrical, and dorsoventrally flattened with a mean of 77.6 mm3 (CV = 0.47). Only adult females had differentiation of germ cells. Primordial follicles had a mean of 9.9 × 105 (CV = 0.19), representing 93% of the total number of ovarian follicles. The mean of primary follicles was 3.05 × 104 (CV = 0.36), whereas for secondary follicles it was 2.75 × 104 (CV = 0.50), each representing 3% of all ovarian follicles. The number of antral follicles in several stages of development was 8.64 × 103 (CV = 0.75), representing 1% of the follicles. Primordial follicles expressed pluripotency (Oct-4+) and proliferation (PCNA+) markers, as well as the primary follicles. The cells did not react for Caspase-3 as marker for apoptosis. Variations regarding to the vascularization of the different regions of the uterine horn were observed, which were more intense and efficient near to the cervix. Data showed that a specialised, highly convoluted structure of the ovarian cortex developed in the intrauterine phase as a prerequisite for massive super-ovulation, associated with the inhibition of apoptosis and continued proliferation of germ cells, as well as maintenance of several corpora lutea during the adult life. Thus, a highly complex pattern of polyovulation, polyimplantation, and controlling mechanisms has evolved in the female reproductive system of the viscacha that mainly was associated with the maternal side. After an in-depth analysis of the arterial and venous vascularization of the uterine horns and uteri, we speculate that specializations regarding the vasculature and musculature evolved first and then contributed as a compensatory or controlling mechanism for polyovulation and polyimplantation. In conclusion, polyovulation in the viscacha represents a unique enigma in reproductive biology.

The transfer of an embryo into the uterine horn contralateral to the ovary bearing the corpus luteum has been associated with a decreased pregnancy rate in cattle compared with transfer into the ipsilateral horn. These findings suggest that the environment in the contralateral horn is less conducive to supporting conceptus development than that of the ipsilateral horn. Therefore, this study compared the endometrial transcriptome of the ipsi- and contralateral uterine horns during the luteal phase. Endometrial samples from the ipsi- (IPSI) and contralateral (CONTRA) horns were collected from synchronized nonpregnant beef heifers on Days 5, 7, 13 or 16 post-oestrus (n = 5 heifers per time point). Total RNA was isolated and sequenced. Differences in the transcriptome were determined by edgeR-robust analysis. Principal component analysis found that IPSI and CONTRA have distinct patterns of gene expression on each day, with Day 5 exhibiting the most variation and Day 16 being least variable. Further, the 2 uterine horns had distinct expression patterns on Day 5, with IPSI exhibiting significantly higher variation in gene expression compared twitho CONTRA. EdgeR-robust analysis found 217 (201 up- and 16 down-regulated), 54 (44 up- and 10 down-regulated), 14 (13 up- and 1 down-regulated), and 18 (14 up- and 4 down-regulated) differentially expressed genes (DEG; >2-fold change, false discovery rate P < 0.05) between IPSI and CONTRA endometria on Days 5, 7, 13, and 16 of the oestrous cycle, respectively. The top 5 canonical pathways associated with DEG between IPSI and CONTRA during the luteal phase of the oestrous cycle were involved in signalling pathways regulating pluripotency of stem cells (73/138), progesterone-mediated oocyte maturation (55/89), endometrial cancer (31/51), ErbB signalling pathway (50/87), and mTOR signalling pathway (36/61). The impact of DEG on signalling pathways was assessed using a pathway perturbation algorithm called Signalling Pathway Impact Analysis (SPIA). This topology-based pathway analysis was conducted using the Bioconductor ToPAseq package (https://bioconductor.org/packages/release/bioc/html/ToPASeq.html) and revealed that signalling pathways regulating pluripotency of stem cells showed the highest perturbation score when IPSI was compared with CONTRA irrespective of day. Discovering and cataloguing which pathways are perturbed in each uterine horn throughout the oestrous cycle may contribute to our understanding of the mechanisms underlying early embryonic loss. Ths study was supported by Science Foundation Ireland (13/IA/1983) and the Irish Department of Agriculture, Food and The Marine (13S528).

AbstractThe traditional subgenera of Colon Herbst containing the North American fauna are Colon s.str., Myloechus Latreille, and Eurycolon Ganglbauer. We use these and also describe Tricolon and Striatocolon as new subgenera. Identification of species in the genus Colon is taxonomically difficult because of allometric variation of external characters in males, and lack of distinctive characters in females. We present keys, illustrations, and descriptions to distinguish the known North American species. A total of 37 species names have been previously applied to Colon in North America. We designate lectotypes for Colon thoracicum Horn, C. asperatum Horn, C. oblongum Blatchley, C. dentatum LeConte, C. pusillum LeConte, C. putum Horn, C. hubbardi Horn, C. nevadense Horn, and C. liebecki Wickham. We recognize 16 names as synonyms of previously named species as follows: C. clavatum Mannerheim = C. bidentatum Sahlberg; C. complicatum Hatch = C. celatum Horn; C. decore Casey = C. thoracicum Horn; C. excisum Hatch = C. hubbardi Horn; C. femorale Hatch = C. lanceolatum Hatch; C. kincaidi Hatch = C. hubbardi Horn; C. mannerheimi Szymczakowski = C. oblongum Blatchley; C. pusillum Horn = C. dentatum LeConte; C. putum Horn = C. dentatum LeConte; C. paradoxum Horn = C. bidentatum Sahlberg; C. nevadense Horn = C. celatum Horn; C. productum Hatch = C. hubbardi Horn; C. rufum Hatch = C. dentatum LeConte; C. schuhi Hatch = C. discretum Hatch; C. serripoides Hatch = C. asperatum Horn; C. pribilof Hatch = C. liebecki Wickham. We describe 22 species as new, as follows. In the subgenus Tricolon: C. blatchleyi and C. pacificum. In the subgenus Colon: C. arcum, C. nitidum, C. politum, and C. vancouverensis. In the subgenus Myloechus: C. boreale, C. californicum, C. chihuahua, C. chiricahua, C. grossum, C. hatchi, C. hesperium, C. incisum, C. longitorsum, C. megasetosum, C. mesum, C. monstrosum, C. pararectum, C. potosi, C. similare, and C. xilitla. All these species are restricted to North America except for C. bidentatum and C. politum which are northern Holarctic. This yields 42 species recognized for the North American fauna. These beetles occur in forest, open woodland, and grassland habitats. Their larvae, biology, and food are still unknown.

1. Thirty-one physiologically identified primary afferent fibers were labeled intracellularly with horseradish peroxidase (HRP). 2. A computer analysis was used to determine whether the distribution of cutaneous mechanoreceptive afferent terminals varies as a function of location within the dorsal horn somatotopic map. 3. An analysis of the geometry of the projections of these afferents has shown that 1) terminal arbors have a greater mediolateral width within the region of the foot representation than lateral to it, 2) terminal arbors have larger length-to-width ratios outside the foot representation than within it, and 3) the orientation of terminal arbors near the boundary of the foot representation reflects the angle of the boundary. Previous attribution of mediolateral width variations to primary afferent type are probably in error, although there appear to be genuine variations of longitudinal extent as a function of primary afferent type. 4. Nonuniform terminal distributions represent the first of a three-component process underlying assembly of the monosynaptic portions of cell receptive fields (RFs) and the somatotopic map. The other two components consist of the elaboration of cell dendritic trees and the establishment of selective connections. 5. The variation of primary afferent terminal distributions with map location is not an absolute requirement for development of the map; for example, the RFs of postsynaptic cells could be assembled with the use of a uniform terminal distribution for all afferents, everywhere in the map, as long as cell dendrites penetrate the appropriate portions of the presynaptic neuropil and receive connections only from afferent axons contributing to their RFs.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

For stem cell production and detailed morphological analysis 12–14-day-old bovine embryos are suitable. However, it has been proven to be difficult to extend the in vitro culture period beyond Days 8–9, and it was the aim of the present experiment to examine whether it might be possible to culture 6–7-day-old in vitro-produced (IVP) embryos for a period of 5–7 days in the uterine horns of heifers. The IVP embryos were produced by standard procedures. Briefly, IVM took place in DMEM medium supplemented with 5% serum, EGF, and eCG/hCG, and IVF was carried out in TALP medium under 5% CO2 in humidified air and at 38.5°C. IVC took place in SOFaaci supplemented with 10% serum under 5% CO2, 5% O2 and 90% N2 at 38.5°C .The embryos were cultured in vitro to Days 6–7 post insemination, when morulas and blastocysts of excellent quality were placed in HEPES-buffered TCM199 with 10% serum, loaded in numbers of 10–30 into 0.25 mL straws, and then transported to the place of transfer in a portable incubator at 38.5°C. The embryos were transferred nonsurgically to the mid or distal part of the uterine horns of 28 dairy heifers which were heat synchronized with injections of cloprostenol (Estrumat Vet, Schering-Plough, Farum, Denmark) to a cycle stage of embryo age +1 day. In 16 heifers, embryos were transferred into both sides and for the remaining ones only into the horn ipsilateral to the ovary bearing the corpus luteum. After 5–7 days, the heifers were flushed nonsurgically by standard method, using a flushing catheter of large caliber (Minitab® 18 G) and slow infusion and evacuation of the fluid. The differences in recovering rate among horns were identified by Fisher's Exact test. Data are given as LS means ± SEM values and statistical differences assigned at the P < 0.05 level. In 6 of the 28 heifers no embryos were obtained; in these 6 cases, the quality of the transferred embryos, the transfer procedure, the heifers, and the flushing procedures did not differ in any obvious way from those of the successful flushings, which numbered 22 (79%). The mean embryo recovery rate was 40 ± 3% with a variation from 7% to 93%. There was a minor but not statistically significant difference between the overall recovery rate of embryos from the ipsi- versus contralateral horn, respectively (44 ± 5% vs. 38 ± 6%). In only 4 of the 16 heifers where transfer occurred to both horns was the recovery rate higher in contralateral side, compared to 9 heifers where the highest recovery rate was seen in the ipsilateral side. The oldest elongated embryos were in one occasion damaged and in another tangled, making it difficult to isolate the individual embryo; apart from that, all of the embryos seemed of excellent quality making it possible to isolate the embryonic discs. It can be concluded that it is possible to culture in vitro produced Day 6–7 bovine blastocysts in the uterus of synchronized heifers and to achieve an acceptable recovery of Day 12–14 embryos.

When the golf swing is involving all body segments and is thus considered as one of the most complex of sports motions. The aim of this study was to determine the selected kinematic parameters of movement of pelvic and segments of the upper body (shoulder rotation, hip rotation, X-Factor, stretch X-Factor) that affect the club head speed at ball contact in elite golfers. To build the upper body segment model were used spots and their position during the measurement was scanned by 3D kinematic analyzer CODA Motion System. To determine the interindividual stability of performance the coefficient of variation was used and for statistical analysis of the relationship between kinematic and temporal parameters and the club head speed at ball contact the Pearson's correlation coefficient was used. We found a high interindividual stability in maximized shoulders rotation and club head speed at ball contact parameters. When analyzing relationship between the club head speed at ball contact and the observed kinematic parameters of the movement of the upper body only a high relationship with the stretch X-factor parameter was found.

Each class of livestock has some peculiar qualitative traits and in goats some of these are coat pigmentation, horned/polled, beard/non-beard, wattled/non-wattled. Since the impact of environment is important in phenotypic expression of qualitative traits, it becomes expedient to examine these features in West African Dwarf Goats (WADG) from every climatic region of the world. To accomplish this, a total of 623 WADGs aged between 3 and 4 years reared extensively in Ekiti state region of Nigeria were purposively selected from the three agricultural zones in the state for the examination. Data were collected on coat pigmentation, horns, wattle and beard on sex basis. The commonest pigmentation was black at 31.29%, 35.43% and 34.18% in the three zones and the least encountered was mixed pigmentation at 11.66%, 07.62% and 08.44% respectively. The number without wattles (57%) outnumbered those with wattles (43%). 88% had no beards and 87% were horned. 30% of does had wattles and 59% were horned as against 13% and 29%, respectively in bucks. In all, 2% of doe and 9% of buck had beards. The levels of variation in the traits surveyed in the three Districts indicated that WADGs in the region are predominantly black, not wattled, not bearded and horned.

Huge amount of by-products is still considered as waste and is simply disposed, for example by-product gas is usually flared. Political and social pressure to reduce air pollution and national needs for energy security make these waste fuels interesting for near-future power generation. Unfortunately most of these waste fuels, even when liquefied or gasified, have very low quality and can hardly be used in high-efficiency power systems. Among main challenges are low calorific value and composition fluctuation. Additionally very often there is a high content of sulphur, siloxanes, tars, etc., which have to be removed from the fuel. Modern 4-stroke gas engines designed for power generation applications provide very high efficiency, high reliability and availability. Unfortunately, these gas engines require high quality fuel with stable composition. Horus-Energia together with Cracow University of Technology developed a novel gas supply system HE-MUZG that can adapt to current gas quality and change engine settings accordingly.This article will present results from the HE-MUZG system tests on modern 4-stroke spark-ignition gas engine. Tests focus on low quality gas, such as gas with low calorific value, gas with very low methane number and gas with very big variations of calorific value. Test results compared with performance of that engine in the original configuration show huge improvements. Moreover the HE- MUZG system is easy to implement in commercial gensets.

Phase structure distortion of the probe field that occurs when the collimator-type assemblies of irradiators used in measuring the polarization scattering matrices of location objects are used as part of the radar measuring complex was discussed. It is shown that, due to the specific design, the phase centers of the irradiators in the assembly are removed from the collimator focus, resulting in the appearance of longitudinal-transverse defocusing, which is expressed in the slope and curvature of the wavefront of the probe field. For a quantitative analysis of these distortions, a method for calculating the ray path in the «irradiator – collimator mirror – test zone» system is proposed. For the MAK-5 collimator, numerical estimates of the phase distribution and slope of the wavefront of the probe field, as well as variations in bistatic angles corresponding to the use of an irradiator assembly for radar measurements, were obtained. It is shown that, with the displacements of the phase centers of the irradiators in the assembly not exceeding the wavelength, the field formed by them has a quasi-plane character – the phase change in the plane perpendicular to the propagation direction does not exceed 8°. However, the slope of the wavefront of the probe field to the longitudinal axis of the collimator, as well as the fundamentally bistatic nature of the measurements, are sources of inextricable systematic errors in measuring the scattering characteristics of targets when using irradiator assemblies.

Abstract Mutations at the protein-coding region of TERT gene (chromosome 5p15.33) have been well characterized in patients affected by a constitutional telomere syndrome, including diskeratosis, aplastic anemia and pulmonary fibrosis (Calado RT, Hematology, ASH 2009:338). In rare cases somatic mutations may occur in de novo MDS/AML (Calado RT, Young NS. Blood 2008;111:4446). Mutations involving the regulatory region of TERT gene have been recently identified in a consistent proportion of familial and sporadic melanoma and in a subset of tumors originating from tissues with low rate of self-renewal (glioblastoma, liposarcoma, oligodendroglioma bladder cancer, upper urinary tract cancer). These mutations create new binding motifs for Ets/TCF transcription factors, thus increasing TERT gene transcription (Killela PJ et al, PNAS 2013;110:6021; Horn S et al, Science 2013;339:959). As far as we know TERT promoter mutations were never described in MDS. Material and Methods Index Case. A 52 years old woman was selected because of a complex phenotype including abnormal skin pigmentation, familial pulmonary fibrosis, osteoarthritis, and a refractory cytopenia with multilineage dysplasia (RCMD, WHO 2008) with a 47,XX,+8 karyotype. Screening Cases. Mutational analysis was extended to a cohort of 115 patients (72 males; 44 females, median age 69) referred to the Laboratory of Cytogenetics, Hematology Department,University of Perugia, Italy. Cytogenetics was normal in 49 cases (43%). Abnormalities included: isolated del(5q) (seven cases, 6%); del(5q) plus one additional change (three cases, 3%); isolated del(20q) (fourteen cases, 12%); trisomy 8 (five cases, 4%); monosomy 7 (two cases, 2%); -Y (three cases, 3%); del(11q) (two cases, 2%); complex karyotype (twenty-four cases, 21%); other aberrations (six cases, 5%). Genomic DNA was extracted from bone marrow (BM) of all cases and from peripheral blood T lymphocytes of index case using Salting out method. In all cases TERT promoter was screened using PCR based DHPLC assay (Wave system; MD Transgenomic Inc. Omaha, NE). The 274bp amplicon was amplified with forward primer 5'GTCCTGCCCCTTCACCTTC3' and reverse primer 5'AGCACCTCGCGGTAGTGG3' using Robust Start Taq KAPA2G (Biosystems, Woburn, MA). DNA from abnormal elution profiles were re-amplified and sequenced by Sanger method (ABI 3500 Genetic Analyzer, Applied Biosystems). Variations were detected using Finch TV v. 1.4.0. In the index case 23 amplicons encompassing all 16 exons of TERT gene were also screened (NC_000005.9). Mutations cloning was carried out after RNA extraction (Trizol, Invitrogen, Life Technologies, Paisley, UK), reverse transcription (ThermoscriptTM RT-PCR System, Invitrogen) and amplification (TERT_2CF (5'-CAGCGCTACTGGCAAATGCG-3' Ta-61,4°C; and TERT_2543R (5'-GGCACTGGACGTAGGACTTG-3' Ta-61,4°C). PCR products were sub-cloned into pGEM-T easy vector (Promega, Madison, WI, USA) and sequenced. Results Index Case. Patient was a compound heterozygous for two germline variations: a nonsense mutation c.1209C>A p.C403* (exon 2) and a missense mutation c.2455C>T p.R819C (exon 8). A putative somatic A>C transition 57 bp before the ATG start codon was detected only in BM cells (Table). Screening Cases. DHPLC analysis showed three patients (2.6%) with a two-peak elution profile. Sequencing revealed a 10 bp duplication (c.1-110_1-101) in case 2; a c.1-124 C>T point mutation in case 3; a point mutation c.1-78 C>T in case 4 (Table). Comment We showed that TERT gene promoter variations are recurrent events in 2.6% of MDS patients. Only low/int1 risk MDS (IPSS) were affected in this series. The c.1-57A>C, previously reported as a germline activating variation in familial melanoma (Horn S et al, Science 2013;339:959), was likely a somatic mutation in our index case, thus supporting its role in clonal MDS proliferation. We first found the melanoma activating c.1-124 C>T point mutation (Huang FW et al, Science 2013;339:957; Killela PJ et al, PNAS 2013;110:6021) in a MDS with isolated del(5q). The new variation of our case n.4 does not appear to introduce a new transcription factor binding site (http://www.cbrc.jp/research/db/TFSEARCH.html), whereas the 10bp duplication of case 2 indicates an hypothetical binding site for Ikaros. Further results from ongoing functional studies in these cases will be presented. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

Abstract Global proteomic analyses of complex protein samples in nanogram quantities require a fastidious approach to achieve in-depth protein coverage and quantitative reproducibility. Biological samples are often severely mass limited and can preclude the application of more robust bulk sample processing workflows. In this study, we present a system that minimizes sample handling by using online immobilized trypsin digestion and solid phase extraction to create a simple, sensitive, robust, and reproducible platform for the analysis of nanogram-size proteomic samples. To demonstrate the effectiveness of our simplified nanoproteomics platform, we used the system to analyze preimplantation blastocysts collected on day 4 of pregnancy by flushing the uterine horns with saline. For each of our three sample groups, blastocysts were pooled from three mice resulting in 22, 22, and 25 blastocysts, respectively. The resulting proteomic data provide novel insight into mouse blastocyst protein expression on day 4 of normal pregnancy because we characterized 348 proteins that were identified in at least two sample groups, including 59 enzymes and blastocyst specific proteins (eg, zona pellucida proteins). This technology represents an important advance in which future studies could perform global proteomic analyses of blastocysts obtained from an individual mouse, thereby enabling researchers to investigate interindividual variation as well as increase the statistical power without increasing animal numbers. This approach is also easily adaptable to other mass-limited sample types.

1. The effect of transection and ligation of the digital nerves of either one (toe 3) or two (toe 3 and toe 4) hindpaw digits, in the first postnatal week, on the tactile receptive fields (RFs) of spinocervical tract (SCT) neurons was studied in adult, alpha-chloralose-anesthetized cats. Immediately before recording, the digital nerves of the corresponding digit(s) of the opposite, intact hindpaw were transected, and the neonatally lesioned digital nerves were recut proximal to the transection neuroma. 2. In the medial part of the dorsal horn at the L6-L7 level, the digits of the hindlimb are represented in the RFs of SCT cells in a precise axial sequence from the most medial digit (toe 2) rostrally to the most lateral digit (toe 5) caudally. Acute denervation of one or two digits in the adult produced an area in the ipsilateral dorsal horn in which SCT cells lacked any RFs. When acute denervation was restricted to a single digit, the unresponsive region of dorsal horn was approximately 3 mm in length, and when two digits were denervated the unresponsive zone was approximately 6 mm long. Because the representation of the toes of the left hindpaw is a mirror image of that of the right, the rostrocaudal extent and position of the region of unresponsive SCT cells was used to assess the location of the borders of the chronically deprived region on the opposite side of the cord. 3. In all cats examined after neonatal denervation of toe 3, most (89%) of the SCT cells sampled within the chronically deprived toe 3 representation had RFs. These RFs were either on toe 2 (44%) or toe 4 (18%), and a large proportion of cells (38%) had multiple RFs with components on both toe 2 and toe 4. In most cases the cells fired briskly to displacement of hairs or light touch of the skin within these RFs. SCT cells with a RF on toe 2 and/or toe 4 were found throughout the whole 3-mm length of the chronically deprived toe 3 region, but cells with a RF on toe 2 were more commonly found than cells with a RF on toe 4 at axial distances greater than or equal to 1.5 mm from the boundary of the normal representations of the respective digit. 4. After chronic, neonatal denervation of both toe 3 and toe 4, 59% of SCT cells sampled overall had RFs, but there was a large degree of interanimal variation in the proportion of unresponsive neurons.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Abstract Objective: Using data retrieved from three different hospitals, we established indirect reference intervals of free thyroxine (FT4) and thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) for the Centaur XP or the Immulite 2000 instruments, in separate reference limits at each subset. Methods: We categorized children into seven age groups: 4–7 days, 8–15 days, 16–23 days, 24–61 days, 3–6 months, 7–36 months and 4–6 years. After a Box-Cox transformation was employed, we followed the Horn algorithm to eliminate the extreme values. Results: The remaining FT4 (11,230) and TSH (11,274) tests were statistically analyzed. We determined separate reference limits at each subset with their own 2.5th and 97.5th percentiles. The interaction effect of both hospital and age grouping on FT4 was meaningful, but there was no interaction effect on TSH. Conclusions: Pediatric FT4 and TSH test results should be interpreted via narrowed age groups, especially in the first 3 weeks of neonatal period. Our reference limits may be recommended in pediatric follow-ups, considering the conditions of prematurity, birth-weight or multiple births. Preanalytical and analytical variations related with complex molecular structure of FT4 should be taken into consideration to ensure the validity of the result.

EPDM rubber has been used as matrix and manganese–zinc ferrite as magnetic filler. EPDM ferrite composites were prepared with varying loading in different compositions of Mn–Zn ferrite (RFC-1, 2, 3 and 4) and moulded in the test samples of different thicknesses i.e. 1.5 mm, 2.5 mm and 5 mm. Physico-mechanical properties of EPDM ferrite composites were determined. Complex permeability and permittivity parameters of rubber ferrite composites were measured using rectangular waveguide in the frequency range of 3.95–5.85 GHz. The variation of reflection loss (RL) of single layer rubber-ferrite composites has been investigated as a function of frequency, ferrite content and thickness of composites by unique single horn interferometry technique in the frequency range of 2–18 GHz. It is observed that microwave absorption of rubber–ferrite composites has increased with increase of ferrite content as well as thickness in the frequency range of 2–18 GHz.

The factors affecting variation in age at first reproduction of bighorn ewes (Ovis canadensis) were investigated in two marked populations in Alberta. One population was studied for 20 years, the other for 11 years. As yearlings, females that lactated at 2 years of age were on average heavier and larger, and had longer horns than females that did not lactate at 2 years. However, there was wide overlap in body mass between early and late producers, and increases in body mass over the threshold for reproduction had little effect on the probability of early lambing. The body mass of females at 4 months of age explained less than half of the variance in female body mass at 1 year or at 15 months. In one population, the proportion of 2-year-old ewes lactating was not correlated with density and declined after a pneumonia epizootic. In the other population, the proportion of 2-year-old ewes lactating was higher during an experimental reduction of density, and dropped to near zero as density increased. There was a significant interaction effect of body mass and population density upon the probability that a ewe would lactate at 2 years of age. Independently of body mass, yearlings were less likely to lactate at 2 years of age at high population density than at low density. The number and age distribution of rams did not affect the proportion of 2-year-old ewes lactating. The mothers of lactating 2-year-olds were not older or heavier than the mothers of ewes that did not lactate at 2 years. Although some of the variation in age at first reproduction was due to differences in mass and population density, much of it remained unexplained and could be due to genetic factors.

A high channel consistency subarray of plane-wave generators (PWG) is described for fifth-generation (5G) base station (BS) over-the-air (OTA) testing. Firstly, the variation of the near field radiation characteristics of the subarray based on the feed amplitude and phase errors of the traditional power divider network is analyzed. The recommended amplitude and phase errors between channels are given. After that, a novel subarray which combines four pyramidal horn antennas and a compact 1:4 waveguide power divider is designed. The optimized perfectly symmetrical zigzag waveguide transmission lines are used to realize consistent power allocation among antenna elements. No intermediate pins are employed, which avoids the significant deterioration of channel consistency caused by assembly errors. The size of the subarray is 4.89 λ0 × 4.97 λ0 × 1.23 λ0 (λ0 is the working wavelength corresponding to the subarray center frequency at 3.5 GHz). The VSWR < 1.5 impedance bandwidth covers 3.4 GHz to 3.6 GHz. The amplitude difference between the four elements of the subarray is less than 0.5 dB, and the phase difference is less than 3°. The simulated and measured results agree well in this design.

The immature stages of the New Zealand endemic Paucispinigera Freeman and Paraborniella Freeman, endemic to Australia, are described fully for the first time. A new species of Paratendipes Kieffer endemic to Australia is described in all life stages. Morphological support from larvae for placement in a ‘Microtendipes’ group in tribe Chironomini includes the 6-segmented antenna with Lauterborn organs on the 2nd and 3rd segments, and a well-demarcated, multi-toothed ventromentum. The pupa has a few-branched thoracic horn and the distribution of taeniate L-setae is informative. Significant differentiating characters of the adult male include the form of tibial apices and the structures of superior and median volsellae in the genitalia. In the wing of Paucispinigera, the squama lacks setae, contrary to the original description, and unusually has vein M1+2 setose in both sexes and also the M3+4 setose in the female. An apical spine on the gonostylus of Paucispinigera is unusual. The female genitalia are described here for the first time but lack phylogenetically informative variation. An Australian species of the widespread genus Paratendipes Kieffer, described here as Paratendipes sinespina sp. n., is provided for comparison. Paucispinigera and Paraborniella each warrant independent generic rank.

EFICIÊNCIA DE DIFERENTES ELEMENTOS FILTRANTES NA PREVENÇÃO DE OBSTRUÇÃO DE GOTEJADORES José Euclides Stipp Paterniani Marcos Eduardo ScatoliniFaculdade de Engenharia Agrícola, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, SP. CP 6011, CEP 13083-970, E-mail: pater@agr.unicamp.br 1 RESUMO Durante ensaios para verificação de eficiência de retenção de algas em filtros de discos 120 MESH, tela 120 MESH e manta sintética não tecida, foram avaliados o grau de obstrução de gotejadores de labirinto com fluxo turbulento e vazão nominal de 4 L.h-1 e 8 L.h-1. Para determinação da obstrução causada por impurezas não retidas no meio filtrante foram avaliadas a evolução da vazão e da uniformidade estatística dos gotejadores submetidos aos diferentes meios filtrantes durante um período de 22 semanas durante 4 horas diárias e comparadas com uma parcela testemunha sem elemento filtrante. Os resultados mostraram que houve diferença significativa entre o elemento de discos, que apresentou maior uniformidade estatística, os filtros de manta e tela com valores intermediários e a testemunha que apresentou menor uniformidade estatística. No entanto, para caracterizar de maneira definida a diferença no desempenho dos elementos filtrantes, estes valores deveriam vir acompanhados de uma redução contínua na vazão média dos tratamentos, o que foi observado apenas para o elemento de tela com o gotejador de 4 L.h-1. As demais variações da uniformidade estatística foram temporais, provavelmente devido a obstruções temporárias ocasionadas por variações da concentração de sólidos suspensos na água de irrigação. UNITERMOS: Filtragem, Gotejamento, Qualidade da água. PATERNIANI, J.E.S.; SCATOLINI, M.E. EFFICIENCY OF DIFFERENT FILTER ELEMENTS TO PREVENT TRICKLE CLOGGING 2 ABSTRACT This work aimed to verify the efficiency of algae removal in disks 120 mesh, screen 120 mesh, and non woven synthetic fabric filters. It was evaluated the degree of clogging of turbulent flow drippers on 4 L.h-1 and 8 L.h-1 outflow. For blockage determination the outflow evolution and statistics uniformity (Us) of the dripper have been evaluated when submitted to different filter media over 22 weeks, 4 daily hours compared to a control without the filter element. The results indicated significant differences among the elements. The disk element presented greater statistic uniformity. The screen filter and the non woven synthetic fabric element presented intermediate values whereas the parcel with no filter element (control) presented minor statistic uniformity. However, in order to characterize performance differences among them, values should be presented along with a continuous average outflow reduction in all treatments. This pattern was observed only for the screen filter and 4 L.h-1 drippers. The statistics uniformity variation has been probably caused by temporary blockages due to variation in suspended solid concentration in irrigation water. KEYWORDS: filtration, drip irrigation, water quality.

EFEITO DO ARMAZENAMENTO DAS AMOSTRAS PARA DETERMINAÇÃO DO POTENCIAL DA ÁGUA NA FOLHA PELA CÂMARA DE PRESSÃO Ralini Ferreira de Melo; Yanê Borges Garcia Gruber; Rubens Duarte CoelhoDepartamento de Engenharia Rural, Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz, Universidade de São Paulo, Piracicaba, SP, ralini@esalq.usp.br 1 RESUMO O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar a influência do tempo de armazenamento das amostras de folhas de Citrus sp. na quantificação dos diferentes níveis de estresse hídrico, após as mesmas terem sido removidas das plantas, visando analisar a possibilidade de se fazer as medidas com a câmara de pressão (Scholander et al., 1964) na citricultura em condições de laboratório, e não imediatamente após a coleta das folhas. A amostragem constituiu-se em dez plantas para cada nível de estresse hídrico, com retirada de 5 folhas por planta e por coleta. Foram observadas as variações horárias dos valores nos tratamentos, com intervalos medidos de 0; 2; 4; 6; 8; 10; 12; 24; 48, 72 e 120 horas, sendo a primeira leitura às 6:00 horas do potencial total da água da folha. A determinação do potencial total da água nas plantas (yf) foi feita no pré-amanhecer e correlacionou-se o yf com o intervalo de tempo em que a medida foi feita após a coleta dessa amostra, resultando nas seguintes observações: a) com o passar do tempo de armazenamento das folhas cítricas ocorreu diminuição do potencial total da água, tornando-se mais negativo; b) com o aumento do nível de estresse hídrico, existiu uma menor interferência do tempo de leitura no potencial da água na folha para os menores níveis de estresse hídrico e c) o valor máximo de armazenamento recomendado é de seis horas. UNITERMOS: câmara de pressão, deficiência hídrica, irrigação MELO, R. F. de; GRUBER, Y. B. G.; COELHO, R. D. EFFECT OF SAMPLE STORAGE FOR DETERMINATION OF LEAF WATER POTENTIAL USING A PRESSURE CHAMBER 2 ABSTRACT This paper aimed to evaluate the storage time influence on the water potential of leaves (WPL) removed from citrus trees, and kept under no light and at low temperature conditions, prior to its determination using a Scholander´s chamber. Samples were taken from 10 trees of each water stress level (treatments), by removing 5 leaves at once. The variation of the water potential of leaves was observed for 2; 4; 6; 8; 10; 12; 24; 48, 72 and 120 hours after the initial measurement realized at 6:00 AM local time (predawn). The Scholander´s chamber determinations were correlated with the initial readings (predawn), resulting in the following observations: a) as storage time increased, there was a decrease of total leaf water potential, which became more negative; b) with increase of water stress, there was a lower interference of storage time on leaf water potential; and c) under low levels of water stress the recommended maximum value for storage time is 6 hours. KEYWORDS: pressure chamber, water drought, irrigation

1. Spontaneous synaptic potentials were recorded in motoneurons grown in organotypic slice cultures of embryonic rat spinal cord. In 71 of 85 cells these potentials appeared without obvious temporal structure (random patterns); in the remaining 14 cells they appeared in bursts (rhythmic patterns). 2. Random activity patterns could be converted into rhythmic patterns by treating the cultures with strychnine, bicuculline, or both. The excitatory amino acid N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) transiently increased the rate of spontaneous synaptic activity without inducing rhythmic patterns. The NMDA antagonist 7-chloro-kynurenate reduced the burst rate while leaving the burst length unchanged in rhythmic patterns. In random patterns it reduced the rate of spontaneous synaptic activity by 68%. 3. Histograms of interevent times of the random patterns were best fitted by the sum of two expontentials, suggesting that the random type of activity could not be described simply as a Poisson process but involved at least one additional mechanism. 4. Rhythmic patterns consisted of bursts of activity with a mean burst length of 2.2 s that were separated by interburst intervals with a mean length of 6.6 s. Within the bursts autocorrelograms revealed regular oscillations with a mean period of 226 ms in 6 of 11 experiments with rhythmic patterns. The period showed little variation between individual experiments (202-288 ms). In random patterns no oscillations were detected. 5. Within the spontaneous bursts the excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs) progressively declined in amplitude. A corresponding depression of EPSPs was observed when trains of electrical stimuli were applied at 5 Hz to the dorsal horns of the spinal cord slices.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Concentrations of hydrocarbons, phenols, DDT and its metabolites, Cu, Pb, Fe, Ni, DDD/DDE and DDD+DDE/DDT ratios, and total level of chemical contamination (TPF index) in the bottom sediments are traced for 16 stations in the coastal areas at Vladivostok in 1982−2017. Temporal variations of the concentrations and derived indices are classified to 4 types of dynamics, using the methods of exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, crosscorrelation analysis, and fuzzy set classification procedure. They are: primary contamination; secondary contamination; exponential growth; and polymodal dynamics. These variations are induced by two main sources of pollution, such as the industrial influx including wastes from Vladivostok and nearby settlements, aeolian transfer and polluted precipitations, and the terrigenous influx with polluted freshwater discharge. Impact of the first source prevails in the Golden Horn Bay, Diomid Inlet and Eastern Bosphorus Strait, and the second source is important for the Amur and Ussuri Bays (the coast of Vladivostok in these bays is influenced by both sources with predominance of the second). The terrigenous impact has two modes depended on certain processes of contamination: the permanent pollution inherent in the types of secondary contamination and exponential growth and the extreme pollution that forms the polymodal dynamics. The secondary contamination follows the primary one with a lag of 6–7 years. The secondary contamination of terrigenous usually has inverse correlation with the Razdolnaya/Suifen River discharge; for instance, strengthening of the freshwater inflow causes lower concentrations of Cu and Pb in the bottom sediments due to dilution effect. On the contrary, contamination depends directly on the Razdolnaya/Suifen River discharge for the exponential growth of terrigenous — the stronger the freshwater inflow, the higher the concentrations of Fe, Ni, and phenols (the latter is a sign of eutrophication). The types of dynamics change following the balance between pollution and self-cleaning of the sediments that is determined by external factors, as a drop in economic activity and its subsequent recovery, limitation and finally ban for using of tetraethyl lead additive, extreme floods on rivers, etc.

Purpose: The aim of the study is to show, on an MRI scan, that the posterior border of the anterior horn of the lateral meniscus (AHLM) could guide tibial tunnel position in the sagittal plane and provide anatomical graft position. Method: One hundred MRI scans were analysed with normal cruciate ligaments and no evidence of meniscal injury. We measured the distance between the posterior border of the AHLM and the midpoint of the ACL by superimposing sagittal images. Results: The mean distance between the posterior border of the AHLM and the ACL midpoint was -0.1mm (i.e. 0.1mm posterior to the ACL midpoint). The range was 5mm to -4.6mm. The median value was 0.0mm. 95% confidence interval was from -0.5 to 0.3mm. A normal, parametric distribution was observed and Intra- and inter-observer variability showed significant correlation (p<0.05) using Pearsons Correlation test (intra-observer) and Interclass correlation (inter-observer). Conclusion: Using the posterior border of the AHLM is a reproducible and anatomical marker for the midpoint of the ACL footprint in the majority of cases. It can be used intra-operatively as a guide for tibial tunnel insertion and graft placement allowing anatomical reconstruction. There will inevitably be some anatomical variation. Pre-operative MRI assessment of the relationship between AHLM and ACL footprint is advised to improve surgical planning. Level of Evidence: Level 4.

Abstract Horne, J. K., Sawada, K., Abe, K., Kreisberg, R. B., Barbee, D. H., and Sadayasu, K. 2009. Swimbladders under pressure: anatomical and acoustic responses by walleye pollock. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 66: 1162–1168. Pressure influences echo intensities from fish through changes in swimbladder volumes and surface areas. Volume reduction is expected to correspond to Boyle’s law (volume α pressure−1), but the effects of deforming the dorsal-aspect surface area of the swimbladder on the target strength (TS) of a physoclist have not been quantified at geometric scattering frequencies. Dorsal and lateral radiographs of three juvenile walleye pollock (Theragra chalcogramma) in a pressure chamber were used to image swimbladders from ambient to a maximum of 4.9 × 105 Pa (i.e. 5 atm). Radiographs from an additional 16 0-group, 21 juvenile, and 28 adult fish were used to compare swimbladder sizes and shapes across life-history stages. The directional elliptical eccentricity, which describes the relative compression in dorsal and lateral planes, was formulated to define swimbladder shapes and their variation. As pressure increased, dorsal-aspect surface areas of the swimbladder decreased at a constant rate. Swimbladder-volume reductions were similar among individuals, but less than those predicted by Boyle’s law. Compression was greatest in the dorsal–ventral plane and asymmetric anterior to posterior. The Kirchhoff-ray mode backscatter model predicted that TS at 38 and 120 kHz decreased by ∼4 dB as pressure increased from ambient to 4.9 × 105 Pa.

A study was conducted to determine the presence of Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) in camel population kept together with small ruminants in Isiolo, Mandera, Marsabit, and Wajir counties of Kenya. This was done in the wake of a disease with unknown etiology “Camel Sudden Death Syndrome” camels in the horn of Africa. Thirty-eight (38) samples, 12, 8, 15, and 3 samples, were collected from Mandera, Wajir, Isiolo, and Marsabit, respectively, from 25 camels, 7 goats, and 4 sheep. One camel in Mandera and one goat in Wajir were confirmed positive for PPR virus (PPRV) through reverse Polymerase Chain Reaction. The analysis of sequences revealed closest nucleotide identities of obtained sequences from both goat and camel to the lineage III of PPRV albeit with 60.29% of nucleotide identity. This study establishes that camels in the study area suffer with PPR manifest clinical signs that are mainly characterized by inappetence, loss of body condition, and general weakness terminally leading to diarrhea, conjunctivitis, and ocular nasal discharges preceding death. These clinical signs are similar to those observed in small ruminants with slight variations of manifestations such as keratoconjunctivitis as well as edema of the ventral surface of the abdomen. This shows that camels could be involved in the epidemiology of PPR in the region and that PPRV could be involved in the epidemics of Camel Sudden Death syndrome. There is therefore a need for resources to be dedicated in understanding the role camels play in the epidemiology of PPR and the role of the disease in Camels Sudden death syndrome.

Certains composés dissous ne sont pas stables une fois prélevés hors de leur milieu. Pour éviter que l'information ne se perde entre le prélèvement et l'analyse, il est nécessaire d'effectuer cette dernière in situ. La solution que nous présentons, consiste à développer une réaction colorimétrique en profondeur; la cellule photométrique est immergée et reliée à un spectrophotomètre en surface, par 2 fibres optiques (fig. 1a, b, c). Cependant, lors d'un essai préliminaire, nous avons observé que, dans le circuit de mélange de la sonde, les proportions entre réactif et échantillon ne sont pas constantes. Ces variations de débits sont corrigées par des mesures à deux longueurs d'onde (λ1 et λ2)* et par l'adjonction d'un colorant auxiliaire ne perturbant pas la réaction calorimétrique. L'étalonnage se fait directement sur la cellule photométrique : dans un diagramme Absorbance à λ1 = f (Absorbance à λ2) (fig. 2), on place une droite d'étalonnage et des points particuliers. Les règles de mélange sont vérifiées indépendamment de toute réaction chimique avec différentes solutions d'hélianthine dans un tampon à pH 7 et du rouge de chlorophénol à la place du réactif (fig. 4 et 5). En outre nous utilisons le rouge de chlorophénol, jaune sous forme acide, comme colorant auxiliaire pour le dosage du fer total dans un premier essai in situ (lac d'Aydat, Puy de Dôme, France). Les résultats sont comparés à ceux obtenus par prélèvements et analyses au laboratoire (fig. 6). L'accord est satisfaisant. L'incorporation au système présenté, d'une pompe osmotique devrait permettre, avec cet appareillage simple, des mesures pendant plusieurs mois sans intervention.

Reproductive procedures involving uterine manipulation (UM), such as transcervical embryo transfer (TET) or the collection of an endometrial biopsy (EB) may cause trauma to the endometrium resulting in release of endogenous prostaglandin F2α (PGF2α) causing premature regression of the corpus luteum (CL). This study aimed to evaluate the effect of UM and EB on corpus luteum lifespan in tropically adapted beef heifers. In Experiment 1, pre-synchronised Droughtmaster heifers (n = 9; 25.8 ± 0.4 m, live weight 391 ± 21.5 kg) were randomly selected either at Day 4 (UM4 = 5) or at Day 7 (UM7 = 4) post-oestrus for transrectal uterine manipulation and transcervical passage of the biopsy Storz® device without sample collection. In Experiment 2, pre-synchronised Charbray heifers (n = 13, 2 to 3 years old, live weight 439.8 ± 17.2) were biopsied in the horn ipsilateral to the CL at Day 4 (B4 = 6) or at Day 7 (B7 = 7) post-oestrus. In both experiments, blood samples were taken from jugular/coccygeal vein throughout the oestrus cycle on Days 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 11, 13, 16 and 19 (Day 0 = synchronised oestrous) for progesterone (P4) analysis. Signs of heat were visually detected daily and confirmed by ovarian ultrasound. For the PGF2α metabolite 13,14-dihydro-15-keto-PGF2α (PGFM) assessment, blood samples were collected before and after uterine trauma at –24, –12, 0 h and +6, +18, +24 h (Hour 0 = UM or EB either at Day 4 or Day 7). Progesterone was assessed by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) and PGFM using an enzyme immunoassay DetectX® kit (Arbor Assays, Ann Arbor, MI, USA). The intra- and interassay coefficients of variations were 3.7% and 12.8%, respectively. A series of generalized additive mixed effect models (GAMM) were created to quantify P4 differences for UM and EB. The results showed that oestrous cycle length was not affected by UM or EB conducted at Day 4 or at Day 7, because P4 concentration remained above 1 ng mL−1 after uterine trauma during dioestrus. Also, UM and EB did not induce the release of luteolytic pulses of PGF2α. Although P4 concentration followed the normal cycling pattern throughout the oestrus cycle, the shape of the curve in EB4 and UM4 heifers showed higher concentrations of P4 compared with EB7 and UM7 heifers. In conclusion, UM and EB with Storz® device during metoestrus or early dioestrus had minimal or nil effects on CL activity. Whether lower P4 profiles affect embryo development after uterine trauma needs to be further elucidated.

Double fixed-time insemination after ovulation induction is commonly used in pigs to obtain in vivo produced embryos at defined stages of development for downstream biotechnological applications. However, variations in the time of ovulation and fertilisation of the ovulated oocytes by spermatozoa, mainly in one of the inseminations, can cause diversities in embryo development. The aim of the present study was to reduce embryo diversity and to achieve a &lsquo;uniform outcome&rsquo; of porcine embryo stages using single laparoscopic fixed-time insemination (LIUI). Altogether, 48 puberal German Landrace gilts were included in the study. Estrus of gilts was synchronized by 15-day long altrenogest (Regumate^&reg;) feeding and follicle development was stimulated with 850 IU eCG 24 h after the final altrenogest application. Ovulation was induced with 500 IU hCG 80 h after eCG. LIUI was performed 31 h after hCG treatment. Gilts under general anaesthesia were fixed in a dorsal position, a pneumoperitoneum was produced and three trocar cannulas were inserted into the abdomen for optics and instruments. Each uterine horn was carefully punctured 10&ndash;15 cm caudal from the utero-tubal junction with a 2.5&nbsp;mm trocar. A 2.2 mm catheter was inserted about 3 cm into the uterine lumen and 20 ml of extended fresh boar semen (32.2 &times; 106 sperm cells/ml) were injected. Embryos were surgically flushed from the genital tract two (Day&nbsp;2) and three (Day 3) days after insemination. Altogether, 778 oocytes/embryos were recovered (recovery rate 68 &plusmn; 17%); 45 of 48 gilts (93.8%) revealed fertilisation and 76.1% of the recovered embryos (n = 592) were at the 2- and 4-cell stage. On Day 2 (n = 22 gilts), a higher percentage of gilts (72.7%, P &lt; 0.05) displayed only 2-cell embryos compared with gilts which had 2- and 4-cell (22.7%), or only 4-cell embryos (4.6%). On Day 3 (n = 23 gilts), the proportion of gilts with 2-cell, 2- and 4-cell, and only 4-cell embryos shifted to 4.3%, 0% and 95.7%, respectively (P &lt; 0.05). The results of the present study demonstrate high rates of fertilisation and homogenously developed embryos after single fixed-time laparoscopic intrauterine insemination in gilts. Additionally, these results were achieved by inseminating a 60% lower number of sperm cells per insemination dose compared to usual doses used for transcervical insemination. In conclusion, LIUI can be recommended for the in vivo production of embryos in a homogeneous developmental stage, and also as an alternative method for low-dose insemination. &nbsp;

Abstract Background Gepotidacin (GSK2140944) is a first in class novel oral triazaacenaphthylene bacterial topoisomerase inhibitor. In this study, we evaluated the potential impact of orally administered gepotidacin on the human microbiome, across three body-sites and at three specific time-points, as an exploratory endpoint in a Phase 2a clinical trial for the treatment of uncomplicated Urinary Tract Infection (uUTI) (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT03568942). Methods Through DNA sequencing of the 16S rRNA variable region 4, we analyzed samples collected with consent from study subjects from the gastrointestinal tract or GIT (stool), pharyngeal cavity (saliva swabs) and vagina (vaginal swabs). Samples were taken at three time points which were pre-dosing (Day 1), end of dosing (Day 5) and follow-up visit (Day 28 ±3 days). A total of 156 samples were collected and 141 samples passed quality control criteria for DNA sequence analyses. Using a rigorous computational work-flow, changes in microbiome diversity and relative abundances of microbial species were quantified. Results Time series analyses showed that microbiota alpha diversity dropped, relative to pre-dose, by the end of gepotidacin dosing but trended a return trajectory to original pre-dose levels by the follow-up visit, for all body sites (Figure). However, the character and extent of the microbiota changes varied by location. The relative ordering from least to greatest changes in microbiota diversity of body sites is vaginal, pharyngeal and GIT. We found no statistically significant occurrences of pathogen related taxa, such as Clostridioides or Enterobacterales spp., at the final timepoints. Conclusion Since gepotidacin is both orally dosed and elimination includes the biliary route, it was predicted to affect the GIT microbiome, however changes in the distal pharyngeal and vaginal microbiota were also observed. Gepotidacin alteration of the endogenous microbial community appears to be temporary and reversible as microbiota diversity rebounded to near pre-dosing status within a period of several weeks. Our study illustrates how microbiome analyses in antibiotic clinical studies can quantify patterns of microbiota disruption and recovery. Disclosures Andrea Nuzzo, PHD, GlaxoSmithKline (Employee) Stephanie Van Horn, B.Sc., GlaxoSmithKline (Employee) Christopher Traini, PHD, GlaxoSmithKline (Employee) Caroline R. Perry, PhD, GlaxoSmithKline (Employee) Etienne Dumont, MD, GlaxoSmithKline (Employee) Nicole Scangarella-Oman, MS, GlaxoSmithKline plc. (Employee, Shareholder) David Gardiner, MD, GlaxoSmithKline (Employee) James R. Brown, PhD, GlaxoSmithKline (Employee)

In vivo-derived embryos at a defined stage of development are often a necessary requirement for ongoing biotechnological applications. Because double fixed-time insemination after ovulation induction is commonly used in pigs to produce embryos, variations in the time of ovulation and fertilization of the ovulated oocytes by spermatozoa mainly of 1 of the 2 inseminations can cause, however, diversities in embryo development. To moderate embryo diversity and to realize a uniform outcome of porcine embryo stages, single laparoscopic fixed-time insemination can be used to minimize embryo diversity. The potential of laparoscopic intrauterine insemination (LIUI) has been demonstrated in sperm-mediated gene transfer (Fantinati et al. 2005) and evaluation of sperm migration (Brüssow et al. 2006, 2011). The aim of the present study was to analyze the development and possible diversity of embryos after LIUI. Forty-eight puberal German Landrace gilts were included in the study. Estrus of gilts was synchronized by 15-day Regu-Mate® (Intervet, Millsboro, DE, USA) feeding and follicle development was stimulated with 850 IU of eCG 24 h after Regu-Mate® treatment. Ovulation was induced by 500 IU of hCG 80 h after eCG treatment. The LIUI was performed 31 h after hCG treatment. To that, ketamine/azaperone-anaesthetized gilts were fixed in a dorsal position, a pneumoperitoneum was produced and 3 trocar cannulas were inserted into the abdomen for optics and instruments. Laparoscopic handling was observed on a television monitor. Each uterine horn was carefully fixed with an atraumatic forceps 10 to 15 cm caudal from the utero-tubal junction and the uterine wall was punctured with a 2.5-mm diameter trocar. A 2.2-mm catheter connected to a syringe was inserted about 3 cm into the uterine lumen and 20 mL of extended, fresh boar semen (32.2 × 106 sperm cells mL–1; 65% motility) was deposited in the lumen. Embryos were surgically flushed from the genital tract on Day 2 and 3, respectively. Altogether, 778 oocytes were recovered (recovery rate 68 ± 17%); 45 of 48 gilts (93.8%) revealed fertilization and 76.1% of the recovered embryos (n = 592) were at the 2- and 4-cell stage. On Day 2 (n = 22 gilts), a higher percentage of gilts displayed only 2-cell embryos compared with both 2- and 4-cell, and only 4-cell embryos (72.2 v. 22.7 and 4.6%, P < 0.05; chi-square test). On Day 3 (n = 23 gilts), there was a shift regarding the embryo stage. The proportion of gilts with 2-cell, 2- and 4-cell, and only 4-cell embryos was 4.3, 0, and 95.7%, respectively (P < 0.05). Results of the present study demonstrate high rates of fertilization and of non-diverse developed embryos after single fixed-time LIUI in gilts. Additionally, these results were achieved after inseminating a 75% lower number of sperm cells per insemination dose. Laparoscopic intrauterine insemination can be suggested as an alternative for insemination of sex-sorted semen where the number of available sperm cells after the sorting procedure is restricted.

1. Intracellular recordings were made in laminae III-V of the dorsal horn of the cat spinal cord from a group of multireceptive neurons that exhibited similar physiological properties. The background discharge contained irregular and occasional clusters of action potentials, each arising from a complex excitatory postsynaptic potential (EPSP); brushing elicited more frequent clusters containing more action potentials, whereas noxious heating elicited more regular firing, with action potentials arising singly. The distribution of interspike intervals (ISIs) was measured for the background and heat-evoked discharges and revealed characteristic differences in pattern between the two states. 2. Statistical tests were applied to the point process of times of occurrence of spikes within a discharge to establish stationary, to identify renewal instants, and to describe the process between renewal instants. In each case, the statistical description of the discharge was related to the physiological state of the neuron as revealed by recording of synaptic potentials and analysis of the different activating inputs. 3. Background discharge was stationary, and spikes occurred singly or occasionally in clusters. The data were therefore analyzed as a series of "bursts," where a burst could be made up of one or more spikes. Examination of the pattern of serial dependence led to the conclusion that the point process renewed itself after each burst. This, together with the distribution of the intervals between bursts, suggested that bursts were triggered by single, distinct events, which occurred randomly at a slightly and randomly varying average rate. The variation in the number of spikes in a burst suggested random variation in the strength of the physiological trigger. 4. Clusters of action potentials arising from a complex EPSP could be produced by simultaneous stimulation of a number of fast-conducting A beta fibers in the periphery and gentle mechanical stimulation, whereas stimulation of slow C fibers and noxious heat evoked discrete EPSPs from which action potentials arose singly. It was, therefore, concluded that background activity was, at least in part, the result of random activity in a randomly varying number of A beta primary afferent fibers, which could arise from operative procedures. 5. The discharge evoked by heat was stationary, and the absence of serial dependence established that the point process renewed itself after every spike and was, therefore, a simple renewal process. The distribution of the ISIs suggested that each spike was triggered by a randomly occurring physiological event.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

SummaryIn Expt 1, 34 individually-penned Finn Dorset ewes of mean live weight 68 kg were synchronized in oestrus and mated to Suffolk rams. From mating until day 28 of pregnancy each received daily 15 MJ of metabolizable energy (ME) and 225 g crude protein (CP). From day 28 to slaughter on days 34, 41, 48 or 55 half of the ewes continued on this feeding regime and half had their daily intake reduced abruptly to 7·5 MJ of ME and 112 g CP. The mean number of ovulations per ewe was 4·03 (range 2–8) and the mean number of viable foetuses at time of slaughter 3·35 (range 2–6). The combined loss of ova (fertilization failure and early embryonic death) was 14·6% and detectable foetal deaths 2·2%. Level of feeding had no significant effect on these measures or on foetal growth. Foetal growth from 34 to 55 days was described by the equationIn w = 0·962–18·613 e-0·0272t–0·00091t(f–3),where w = foetal weight (kg), t = age (days) and f = litter size. Within-litter variability measured as the S.D. of In w (kg) was 0–081 for twins, 0·108 for triplets and 0·106 for quadruplets and higher multiples.In a second experiment Suffolk × Finn Dorset embryos were transplanted at the rate of two per uterine horn into 15 recipient Finn Dorset ewes. Embryo survival was 72% and foetal weights at 60 days varied from 67 to 146% of the mean value of 66 g. Withinlitter variation in foetal size was only about 70% of that expected for foetuses developing from the variable distribution in their initial positioning that occurs naturally. The correlation between foetal weight and placental weight at day 60 was 0·72 (P < 0001) indicating that the association between foetal weight and placental weight in prolific ewes is not confined to late pregnancy.The results of both experiments are consistent with the hypothesis that the greater within-litter variability in birth weight in large litters is controlled by events in early pregnancy.

1. Transcranial cortical stimuli (TCCS) were used to elicit motor responses in contralateral wrist flexor and extensor muscles of healthy adult subjects. The motor responses were assessed by surface EMG recordings, by needle recordings of single motor-unit discharges, and by measurements of wrist twitch force. Our main aim was to analyze the single-unit events underlying those changes in latency, amplitude, and duration of the compound EMG responses, which could be induced by voluntary preactivation of target muscles and by changes in stimulation strength. 2. Different stimulus strengths were tested with and without background contractions in the flexor or extensor muscles. For each test (consisting of a series of 20 stimuli) the compound EMG responses were averaged and displayed together with the averaged wrist force signals. Responses of individual flexor and extensor motor units were displayed in raster diagrams and peristimulus time histograms. For units exhibiting a background firing, the mean background interdischarge interval was calculated and compared with the subsequent poststimulus intervals. 3. In relaxed muscles, a shortening of onset latency of evoked compound EMG responses was observed when raising stimulation strength. A similar latency reduction was not seen in any of the single-unit recordings. This would be consistent with the size principle of motoneuron recruitment. 4. A shortening of onset latency of evoked EMG potentials was observed also as a result of a voluntary preactivation. Such latency shifts, which were seen also in single-unit recordings, might be attributed to variations in the time required for D and I wave temporal summation at the anterior horn cell. 5. When raising stimulation strength or when adding voluntary background contraction, the evoked compound EMG potential grew not only in amplitude but also in duration, as later peaks of activity were added to the initial ones. Under optimal conditions (strong stimulus + background contraction), the period of excitation (termed E1) had an onset latency of approximately 15 ms and a duration of approximately 35 ms and was similar for wrist flexor and extensor muscles. 6. We never saw the same flexor or extensor unit fire more than once during the E1 period. For units preactivated by a background contraction, the stimulus-triggered impulse exhibited latency shifts, which, to a large extent, depended on the timing of the stimulus in relation to a preceding background discharge and which could be influenced by a change in stimulation strength.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Formulation of the problem. If the operatic creativity of G. Rossini constantly attracts researchers, then the chamber instrumental music of the composer is lighted only in some works of Western European musicologists, in particular, in the dissertation of Sh. Miller (1990), in which the author analyzes Rossini’s late piano pieces, noting the master’s penchant for frequent repetitions of musical elements. Ch. Park (1997), in turn, examines the chamber-instrumental works of G. Rossini in stylistic and compositional aspects, as a result concluding about his bright innovativeness in this area. B.-R. Kern and R. Moller (2002) are interested in the facts of the composer’s life and create a detailed periodization of his biography and work, sometimes involving the analysis of chamber plays written in the Paris period (1823–1868). At the same time, in domestic sources, chamber-instrumental music by G. Rossini, which becomes a key area of activity in the mature period of his life, is covered only sporadically that determines the relevance of the proposed research. The purpose of this article is to reveal the peculiarities of G. Rossini’s interpretation of piano miniatures using the example of the cycle “Quatre horsd’oeuvres et quatre mendiants” (“Four appetizers and four desserts”). The main task is to consider the features of the composer’s interpretation of the program conception of the musical pieces. Research methodology. Wide cultural-historical and biographical research approaches clearing Rossini’s aesthetic position combine with traditional methods of musicological analysis for examination of the expressive means used by the composer. The specific aspect of considering Rossini’s piano miniatures determined by the fact that we can find numerous mentions about composer’s great passion for cooking in the current musical-critical works and studies about Rossini’s life and career. Research results. Cooking was a source of musical inspiration for G. Rossini. He could compose music during a meal and was able to write musical variations on napkins, often comparing music and food. In addition, he also became the author of two books of recipes, one of which was published under the editorship of T. Beauvert (1997) in Paris. The book came out under the title “Rossini les p&#233;ch&#233;s de gourmandize” (“Rossini – the sins of gourmandize”) and is interesting because some dishes have musical names, for example, “Figaro” salad, “Pasticcini” pastries and “William Tell” cake, and as illustrations the musical works by the composer were used. In the period from 1857 to 1868, G. Rossini created ironic and humorous chamber music, among others eight albums of piano pieces included in his large collection “Peches de vieillesse” (a total of 164 compositions of chamber vocal and instrumental music, combined into 14 albums). The collection “Peches de vieillesse” includes three cycles and several individual food-themed pieces scattered across the various albums. All these miniatures bear the name of a certain culinary ingredient. The “edible” theme in “Peches de vieillesse” arose from the composer’s passionate love for gourmet dishes: he himself argued that good music and the exquisite taste of his dishes are inseparable. The article examines the piano miniatures that make up the “gastronomic” cycle “Four appetizers and four desserts”. According to the composer’s idea, the miniatures were to be performed on “Saturday evenings” in his house. The cycle consists of eight parts, which were included in the fourth album of the megacollection “Peches de vieillesse”. This “edible” cycle is divided into two groups of four miniatures: “Hors-d’oeuvres” / “Appetizers” (No. 1 “Les radis”, No. 2 “Les anchois”, No. 3 “Les Cornichons”: “Introduction: Theme et Variations”, No. 4 “La beurre”: “Theme and variations”) and “Mendicants” / “Desserts” (No. 1 “Les figuees seche”: “Me voila – Bonjour Madame”, No. 2 “Les amandes”: “Minuit sonne – Bonsoir Madame”, No. 3 “Lesraisins”: “A ma petite perruche”), No. 4 “Les noisette”: “A ma chere Nini”). The composition of the album combines the features of an eight-movement cycle and a cycle within a cycle, since the “appetizers” are separated from the “desserts” by a subtitle. In addition, each of the “desserts” is accompanied by short text lines emphasizing the composer’s sense of humor, where Rossini addresses to his wife (“Me voila – Bonjour Madame” – No. 1, “Minuit sonne – Bonsoir, Madame” – No. 2), to his parrot (“A ma petite perruche” – No. 3) and his dog (“A ma chere Nini” – No. 4). “Quatre hors-d’oeuvres et quatre mendiants”, at first glance, is a sequence of pieces of various tempers with a “culinary” program. Each of them poses complex performing tasks for the pianist (imitation of violin strokes, arpeggios and octave beatings at a fast tempo, fiorituras, abrupt changes in dynamic and tempo shades, etc.). The composer’s program idea is realized through a complex of diverse means of musical expression. For example, sharp changes in character and contrasting dynamic shades falling on each beat in the “Les radis” can be associated with the burning taste of a bitter root vegetable, etc. In “Les raisins”, to enhance the humorous effect, Rossini adds text to accompany the melodic line of the upper voice, so that a vocal part appears that completely duplicates the part of the right hand, which takes the cycle beyond the boundaries of piano music. However, in modern interpretations, performers omit these lines. Thus, the analysis of the plays of the cycle revealed a number of unusual compositional solutions (use of verbal text, quotes and allusions), which to a greater extent demonstrate “desserts”, where G. Rossini, in addition to the “culinary” program, using subheads associated with various communicative situations (relationship with his wife, pets, friendly caricaturing). The composer shows his commitment to theatricalization, due not only to various subheadsdedications, but also quotation and allusions (“Les raisins”, a “triple portrait” of the composer proper, his friend and his parrot). Conclusions. As a result, the piano cycle by G. Rossini, in a number of ways, approaches to the piano cycles of romantics, such as, for example, R. Schumann’s “Carnival”. The “culinary” program of the cycle is complemented by an arsenal of sound-visual means of the romantic era, to which G. Rossini refused to count himself among the composers. Along with program genre miniatures, there are portrait pieces; besides that, the composer conducts an indirect dialogue with contemporaries and close people (M. Carafa, J. Rothschild, O. P&#233;lissier, F. Liszt). The pieces demonstrate a vivid theatricality, which is embodied in a variety of characters within one miniature-scene and even in the addition of a verbal text, which indicates the closeness of the cycle to instrumental theater – an attribute of musical creativity of the twentieth century.

Recently, our laboratory has identified that supplementation of 3 cytokines, 40ng mL−1 FGF2, 20ng mL−1 LIF, and 20ng mL−1 IGF1 (termed FLI), to porcine oocyte maturation medium leads to an increase in maturation percentage and embryo development to blastocyst. Similarly, addition of FLI to porcine embryo culture at Day 2 after fertilization increased the number of embryos that became blastocyst. The objective of this study was to determine whether the effect of FLI on embryonic development was maintained in the bovine. Two variations of the bovine culture medium, basic SOF and SOF-BE2 (containing 0.4mM trisodium citrate and 2.56mM myo-inositol), were supplemented with FLI at the beginning of culture, and development to the blastocyst stage on Day 8 was determined. Embryos were produced from abattoir-derived oocytes from Bos taurus breeds and fertilized with sperm from a single Holstein bull proven of high fertility under in vitro conditions. All statistical analyses were completed by logistic regression using the Genmod procedure of SAS v. 9.4 (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA). In the first experiment, zygotes (oocytes exposed to sperm) were placed in culture in basic SOF with or without supplementation with FLI. After 4 replicates containing 90 control embryos and 93 FLI-treated embryos we found an increase (P&lt;0.05) in blastocyst percentages of 21.1±0.2% for the control compared with 40.9±0.2% for the FLI-treated embryos. In a second experiment, zygotes were cultured in SOF-BE2 with or without supplementation with FLI. A total of 679 zygotes (332 control and 347 FLI-treated zygotes) across 4 replicates were evaluated. Percentage of embryos developing to the blastocyst stage increased (P&lt;0.05) from 33.2±0.07% in the control group to 42.6±0.07% in the FLI-supplemented group. Next, blastocysts derived from the second experiment were vitrified for subsequent transfer to synchronized Angus recipient heifers. Re-expansion 16h after thawing was recorded before transfer. For the control group, 10 out of 24 embryos (41.7%), and 28 out of 41 embryos (68.3%) of the FLI-treated embryos, re-expanded. Three re-expanded blastocysts were then nonsurgically transferred to the uterine horn of each synchronized heifer (N=3 control embryo containing heifers, 9 FLI embryo containing heifers). The number of viable fetuses (presence of a heartbeat) per heifer will be determined via ultrasound around Day 35. Although more vitrification and transfer experiments are being completed, preliminary data suggest that supplementation of FLI during culture might improve of the embryos to freezing. Furthermore, supplementation of FLI improves development to the blastocyst stage in bovine embryos under different conditions. This work was supported in part by funds from the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Competitive Grant no. 2013-68004-20365 from the United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture and National Institutes of Health Grant R01 HD072898, Food for the 21st Century, and the Clifton Murphy Scholarship Fund.

Parques urbanos servem como áreas de lazer e práticas de exercício, levando a preocupação do conforto térmico de seus usuários. O Parque Mãe Bonifácia, objeto deste estudo, encontra-se na cidade de Cuiabá-MT, sendo um fragmento de cerrado urbano, sofrendo com toda a sazonalidade do clima local, tendo períodos de seca rigorosa e períodos com precipitação. Assim, o objetivo deste trabalho foi fazer uma análise da variação espaço-sazonal termohigrométrica pelo método da krigagem do referido Parque. Foram feitas medidas mensais de temperatura do ar e umidade relativa do ar nos horários entre às 10 e 12 horas. No período seco, as médias de temperatura do ar foram de 33,44 oC, já a média de temperatura para o período chuvoso foi de 31,09 oC. A média de umidade relativa do período seco foi de 43,34% e para período chuvoso 68,71%. Como resultado se percebeu a influência do entorno no parque, sendo as menores temperaturas do ar e maiores umidades relativas do ar as que ocorrem na região central do parque. Os ajustes dos semivariogramas foram considerados satisfatórios para 3 dos 4 períodos analisados, encontrando dificuldade em realizar o ajuste para a umidade relativa do ar no período chuvoso, tendo como a presença da água um possível causador dessa dificuldade. Para os dados de microclima do município de Cuiabá-MT, os resultados estão de acordo com as normais climatológicas e outros estudos realizados na mesma região.Palavras-chave: Semivariograma. Temperatura do Ar. Umidade Relativa do Ar. Precipitação.AbstractUrban parks serve as leisure areas and exercise practices, leading to concern about the thermal comfort of its users. Mãe Bonifácia Park, object of this study, is in the city of Cuiabá-MT, being a fragment of urban cerrado, suffering with all the seasonality of the local climate, having periods of strict drought and periods with precipitation. Thus the objective of this work was to make an analysis of the space-seasonalthermohygrometric variation through the kriging method of the aforementioned park. Monthly measurements of air temperature and relative humidity were taken at times between 10 and 12 hours. In the dry period the averages of the air temperature were 33.44oC, whereas the average temperature for the rainy period was 31,09oC. The mean relative humidity of the dry period was 43.34% and for the rainy season 68.71%. As a result the influence of the surroundings in the park was observed, being the lowest air temperatures and the hightest relative humidity of the air occurring in the central region of the park. The adjustments of the semivariograms were considered satisfactory for 3 of the 4 analyzed periods, finding it difficult to adjust for the relative humidity of the rainy season, with the presence of water being a possible cause of this difficulty. For the microclimate data of the municipality of Cuiabá-MT, the results are in agreement with the climate normals and other studies carried out in the same region.Keyword: Semivariogram. Air Temperature. Relative Humidity. Precipitation.

Abstract Lameness is a major animal welfare and economic issue for the dairy industry and is a challenge to overcome due to multifaceted causes. Digital cushion thickness (DCT) is a strong predictor of lameness and is phenotypically associated with incidence of claw horn disruption lesions (CHDL; sole ulcers and white line disease). We hypothesized that DCT varies between digits and across lactation within the cow. This variation could be characterized to predict the occurrence of CHDL or compromised locomotion. BCS, visual locomotion score (VLS), DCT, and presence or absence of lesions were collected at 4 time points: &lt;40 d prepartum (DPP), 1 to 30 d in milk (DIM), 90 to 120 DIM, and ≥255 DIM for 183 commercial Holstein cows enrolled in the study. Cows underwent digital sonographic examination for the measurement of DCT evaluated at the typical sole ulcer site beneath the flexor tuberosity for the right front medial and lateral digits and right hind medial and lateral digits. Factors such as parity number and stage in lactation were obtained from farm management software (DairyComp 305; Valley Agricultural Software, Tulare, CA). Cows were grouped by parity: primiparous (parity = 1) or multiparous (parity ≥ 2). The prevalence of CHDL among time points ranged from 0% to 4.2% for primiparous cows vs. 2.5% to 25% for multiparous cows, whereas the prevalence of lameness based on VLS of 3 to 5 ranged from 1.7% to 8.3% for primiparous cows vs. 12.7% to 33% for multiparous cows. DCT varied within primiparous and multiparous cows based on stage of lactation and digit (P &lt; 0.05) and was thicker for both parity groups prior to dry off (≥255 DIM) and thinnest prior to calving (&lt;40 DPP) and after peak lactation (90 to 120 DIM). The DCT of the front medial digit was thickest for primiparous heifers, whereas the hind lateral digit was thickest for multiparous cows. The DCT of the hind medial digit was thinnest for both parity groups. Parity group and DCT of the hind lateral digit &lt;40 DPP were important predictors of CHDL (P &lt; 0.05), whereas parity group and DCT of the hind lateral digit and front lateral digit at 1 to 30 DIM were key predictors of VLS lameness (P &lt; 0.05). These results may help identify animals with higher odds of developing these diseases by highlighting key time points and specific digits of importance for monitoring. In addition, it improves our biological understanding of the relationship between DCT and lameness.

Peter the Great Bay (PGB) was not known to Europeans for a long time. The first European ship reached PGB in 1852. She was the French corvette Capricieuse commanded by captain G. de Rocquemaurel who was sent by his government for exploring the western coast of the Japan Sea; actually he had described the Posyet Bay only. Later the British HMS Winchester and Barracuda visited PGB in August, 1856. They discovered the Golden Horn Bay, them as Port May, and gave names to many other geographical locations. Large Russian expedition of 7 vessels was sent to Primorye coast under the leadership of N.N. Muravyov-Amursky, the Governor-General of Eastern Siberia, in the summer of 1859. They described thoroughly the entire PGB and changed many (not all) foreign geographical names to Russian ones. Scientific researches in the Japan Sea were started soon by L.I. Schrenk, who summarized the results of Russian observations in two books published in 1869 and 1874. Great success in understanding of oceanographic regime was the work of S.O. Makarov «The «Vitiaz» and the Pacific Ocean» (1894). S. Ogura created in 1927 the general chart of currents in the Japan Sea on the base of Japanese observations in 1900–1911 that was more detailed and comprehensive than the first chart of L.I. Shrenk. Moreover, S. Ogura plotted the water temperature and salinity distribution over the whole Japan Sea for February and August. Oceanographic studies in PGB were made in 1920s by K.A. Gomoyunov, the first professional oceanographer who lived constantly in the Russian Far East; he began from the Amur Bay survey in the summer of 1925. The USSR Hydrographic Office conducted the oceanographic survey in PGB and the Tatar Strait in 1926–1928, with measuring of temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen content, pH, and water transparency, with the deepest measurements at the depth of 3500 m. In 1932, the Pacific Res. Inst. of Fisheries in Vladivostok together with the State Hydrographic Institute in Leningrad organized the large-scale Pacific expedition that covered all Far-Eastern Seas. In the framework of this expedition, the 5 cruises of RV Rossinante to the Japan Sea headed by N.I. Tarasov explored PGB, too, that allowed to analyze seasonal variations of temperature, salinity, oxygen content, and currents. Oceanographic researches in the Japan Sea became more active in the times of WWII, 4 small research vessels made observations at Primorye coast every month from April to October under general supervision of A.M. Batalin; in total, more than 100 exits to the sea were recorded in 1941–1946. The data collected in those years was the basis for the big atlas of the Japan Sea created under the leadership of A.I. Rumyantsev and published in 1951.

New and expanded microvascular networks in maternal and embryonic tissue are vital to development of a functional placenta. Typically a large proportion of bovine pregnancies derived from somatic cell nuclear transfer (NT) are lost between Days 25 and 45 of gestation. Several laboratories have noted aberrant placental development of NT embryos and fetuses; one factor that may contribute to these defects is faulty maternal or embryonic angiogenesis during placentation. The aim of this study was to determine if angiogenesis in maternal caruncular tissues differs in bovine NT- and IVF-derived pregnancies at the time of placentation. Cloned embryos were produced using cultured ear skin fibroblasts from a 15-year-old Hereford cow; in other experiments, these donor cells resulted in a term live calf and 67% of viable Day-30 embryos dying by Day 51 of gestation. For IVF-derived embryos, IVM oocytes were fertilized with semen from Hereford or Angus bulls. All embryos were cultured in vivo in ligated sheep oviducts, and at Day 8 blastocysts were transferred to synchronized recipient heifers. Whenever possible, one embryo was transferred to each uterine horn. A total of 41 NT and 41 IVF grade 1, 2 and 3 embryos were transferred to 48 recipients. Viable NT (n=9; 22.0% of transferred) and IVF (n=9; 22.0%) embryos were recovered at Day 30, and caruncular tissue adjacent to each embryo was sampled. Expression of genes implicated in angiogenesis was measured by real-time quantitative RT-PCR and normalized to histone 2A expression. In addition, paraformaldehyde-fixed sections were stained by the Periodic Acid-Schiffs method to identify blood vessels. Microvascular density was determined as percentage of total tissue area composed of blood vessels in the luminal caruncular stroma as measured by two observers. Data were analyzed by ANOVA using the GLM procedure of SAS (SAS Institute, Cary, NC, USA). Quantification of gene expression revealed no differences between NT and IVF pregnancies for angiogenesis-promoting growth factors and their receptors: vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A), VEGF-C, placental growth factor, VEGF receptor-1 (VEGFR-1/flt-1), VEGFR-2 (flk-1/KDR), VEGFR-3 (flt-4), angiopoietin-1 (Ang-1), and Ang receptor-1 (tie-1). Likewise, NT and IVF pregnancies demonstrated similar mean microvascular densities in the caruncles; however, density differed between individual pregnancies across both groups (P&lt;0.05). For these experiments, the timing of NT and IVF, embryo transfer, and tissue collection on Day 30 was as consistent as possible. Despite these efforts, embryo morphology and developmental stage were highly variable even within the IVF group. It follows that the progress of placentation, and hence the signaling between each embryo and the maternal tissues, may have differed as well, accounting for the variation observed. Our results suggest that failure of maternal tissue to increase angiogenesis during placentation is not a primary cause of aberrant placental development in cloned cattle.

Background:Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is treated with high dose glucocorticoids and progressively reduced over months to years.Objectives:We undertook an audit to evaluate self-reported adherence to the original recommended glucocorticoid course and explored reasons for any variation.Methods:We recruited patients attending a single rheumatology department over 18 months. Respondents were given two self- administered questionnaires to record information regarding their use of glucocorticoids during the “last 7 days” and during the “last 6 months”. We retrieved 132 questionnaires (of whom 6 were discarded as incomplete). All data was analyzed using SPSS Statistics v22.Results:Of the 126 patients (mean age 74.9 ± 7.7 years), 59% were female. The mean duration of disease was 22.5 ± 19.1 months in patients with GCA and 32.9 ± 29.9 months in those with GCA and polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR). The mean daily number of medications taken was 9.2 ± 5.2 (range: 1 - 30); the mean number of types of daily tablets taken was 5.0 ± 2.1 (range: 1 - 10). The mean daily number of glucocorticoid tablets taken was 3.2 ± 2.6 (range: 0 - 12), with a mean daily dose of 11.1 ± 10.3 mg (range: 0 - 60 mg). Overall, in the last 7 days, 22% and in last 6 months, 40% of patients were not following their original recommended steroid regimens (Table 1). The total mean glucocorticoid dose in the “last 7 days” group (n=81) was 77.8 ± 70.1 mg/week (11.1 ± 10.1 mg/day) whilst the total mean glucocorticoid dose in the “last 6 month” group (n=45) was 1782.0 ± 1543.3 mg/6 month (9.9 ± 8.6 mg/day). Most respondents stated their glucocorticoid non-adherence was due to medical advice; other reasons included forgetting, fear of side e ects, or confusion about di erent preparations of prescribed glucocorticoids. The presence of PMR did not influence glucocorticoid adherence.Table 1.Glucocorticoid used compared to original regimen in GCALast 7 days (%)Last 6 months (%)Higher than prescribed1622Lower than prescribed618Same as prescribed7860Conclusion:There is significant variation in the use of glucocorticoids compared to the original starting regimen in patients with GCA, with or without PMR. However, the amount of the discrepancy is small. The commonest reason for non-adherence was medical advice received from either primary or secondary care.References:[1]Glucocorticoids for management of polymyalgia rheumatica and giant cell arteritis. Matteson EL et al. Rheum Dis Clin North Am. 2016[2]Giant cell arteritis: Current treatment and management. Christina P et al. World J Clin Cases. 2015[3]Methods to improve medication adherence in patients with chronic inflammatory rheumatic diseases: A systemic literature review. Matthieu L et. al. RMD Open. 2018[4]Compliance, adherence, and concordance: implications for asthma treatment. Horne R. Chest. 2006[5]Steroid dependency and trends in prescribing for inflammatory bowel disease – a 2-year national population-based study. V. Chhaya et al. Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 2016[6]The predictors and reasons for non-adherence in an observational cohort of patients with rheumatoid arthritis commencing methotrexate. Holly HF et. al. Rheumatology. 2019Disclosure of Interests:HAIRUL HADI ARIFF: None declared, Abid Awisat: None declared, JACK ARNOLD: None declared, Hudaifa Al Ani: None declared, Lorraine O’Neill: None declared, Mar Pujades Rodriguez: None declared, Raashid Luqmani Grant/research support from: Arthritis UK, the Medical Research Council, the University of California San Francisco/Oxford Invention Fund, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, The Vasculitis Foundation, GSK, Consultant of: GSK, Medpace, MedImmune, Roche

Summary As gas storage becomes increasingly important in managing the nation's gas supplies, there is a need to develop more gas-storage reservoirs and to manage them more efficiently. Using computer reservoir simulation to rigorously predict gas-storage reservoir performance, we present specific procedures for efficient optimization of gas-storage reservoir performance for two different problems. The first is maximizing working gas volume and peak rates for a particular configuration of reservoir, well, and surface facilities. We present a new, simple procedure to determine the maximum performance with a minimal number of simulation runs. The second problem is minimizing the cost to satisfy a specific production and injection schedule, which is derived from the working gas volume and peak rate requirements. We demonstrate a systematic procedure to determine the optimum combination of cushion gas volume, compression horsepower, and number and locations of wells. The use of these procedures is illustrated through application to gas-reservoir data. Introduction With the unbundling of the natural gas industry as a result of Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Order 636, the role of gas storage in managing the nation's gas supplies has increased in importance. In screening reservoirs to determine potential gas-storage reservoir candidates, it is often desirable to determine the maximum storage capacity for specific reservoirs. In designing the conversion of producing fields to storage or the upgrading of existing storage fields, it is beneficial to determine the optimum combination of wells, cushion gas and compression facilities that minimizes investment. A survey of the petroleum literature found little discussion of simulation-based methodologies for achieving these two desired outcomes. Duane1 presented a graphical technique for optimizing gas-storage field design. This method allowed the engineer to minimize the total field-development cost for a desired peak-day rate and cyclic capacity (working gas capacity). To use the method, the engineer would prepare a series of field-design optimization graphs for different compressor intake pressures. Each graph consists of a series of curves corresponding to different peak-day rates. Each curve, in turn, shows the number of wells required to deliver the given peak-day rate as a function of the gas inventory level. Thus, the tradeoff between compression horsepower costs, well costs, and cushion gas costs could be examined to determine the optimum design in terms of minimizing the total field-development cost. Duane's method implicitly assumes that boundary-dominated flow will prevail throughout the reservoir. Henderson et al. 2 presented a case history of storage-field-design optimization with a single-phase, 2D numerical model of the reservoir. They varied well placement and well schedules in their study to reduce the number of wells necessary to meet the desired demand schedule. They used a trial-and-error method and stated that the results were preliminary. They found that wells in the poorest portion of the field should be used to meet demand at the beginning of the withdrawal period. Additional wells were added over time to meet the demand schedule. The wells in the best part of the field were held in reserve to meet the peak-day requirements, which occurred at the end of the withdrawal season. Coats3 presented a method for locating new wells in a heterogeneous field. His objective was to determine the optimum drilling program to maintain a contractual deliverability during field development. He provided a discussion of whether wells should be spaced closer together in areas of high kh or in areas of low kh. He found that when f h is essentially uniformly distributed, the wells should be closer together in low kh areas. On the other hand, if the variation in kh is largely caused by variations in h, or if porosity is highly correlated with permeability, wells should be closer together in areas of high kh. Coats' method assumes boundary-dominated flow throughout the reservoir. Wattenbarger4 used linear programming to solve the problem of determining the withdrawal schedule on a well-by-well basis that would maximize the total seasonal production, subject to constraints such as fixed demand schedule and minimum wellbore pressure. Van Horn and Wienecke5 solved the gas-storage-design optimization problem with a Fibonnaci Search algorithm. They expressed the investment requirement for a storage field in terms of four variables: cushion gas, number of wells, purification equipment, and compressor horsepower. They chose as the optimum design the combination of these four variables that minimized investment cost. The authors used an empirical backpressure equation, combined with a simplified gas material-balance equation, as the reservoir model. In this paper we present systematic, simulation-based methodologies for optimizing gas-storage reservoir performance for two different problems. The first is maximizing working gas volume and peak rates for a particular configuration of reservoir, well, and surface facilities. The second problem is minimizing the cost to satisfy a specific production and injection schedule, which is derived from the working gas volume and peak rate requirements. Constructing the Reservoir Model To optimize gas-storage reservoir performance, a model of the reservoir is required. We prefer to use the simplest model that is able to predict storage-reservoir performance as a function of the number and locations of wells, compression horsepower, and cushion gas volume. Although models combining material balance with analytical or empirical deliverability equations may be used in certain situations, a reservoir-simulation model is usually best, owing to its flexibility and its ability to handle well interference and complex reservoirs accurately. It is important to calibrate the model against historical production and pressure data; we must show that the model reproduces past reservoir performance accurately before we can use it to predict future performance with reliability. However, even calibrating the model by history matching past performance may not be adequate. It is our experience that information obtained during primary depletion of a reservoir is often not adequate to predict its performance under storage operations. Primary production over many years may mask layered or dual-porosity behavior that significantly affects the ability of the reservoir to deliver large volumes of gas within a 4- or 5-month period. Wells and Evans6 presented a case history of the Loop gas storage field, which exhibited this behavior. It may be necessary to implement a program of coring, logging, pressure-transient testing, and/or simulated storage production/injection testing to characterize the reservoir accurately.

This overview of the Luciolinae addresses the fauna of S. E. Asia including India, Sri Lanka, China, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, the Republic of Palau, Federated States of Micronesia, and the Australopacific area of Australia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, Vanuatu and Fiji.Of the 28 genera now recognised in the Luciolinae we address 27 genera from the study area as defined above, including three new genera which are described herein, and 222 species including 13 species newly described herein. Photuroluciola Pic from Madagascar is the only Luciolinae genus not addressed here. A key to genera is presented. Keys to species are either included here or referenced in existing literature. Twelve genera have had no new taxonomic decisions made nor are any new species records listed, and are addressed in an abbreviated fashion, with short diagnoses and plates of features of life stages: Aquatica Fu et al. 2010, Australoluciola Ballantyne 2013, Convexa Ballantyne 2009, Emeia Fu et al. 2012a, Inflata Boontop 2015, Lloydiella Ballantyne 2009, Missimia Ballantyne 2009, Pteroptyx Olivier 1902, Pyrophanes Olivier 1885, Sclerotia Ballantyne 2016, Triangulara Pimpasalee 2016, and Trisinuata Ballantyne 2013. Abscondita Ballantyne 2013 contains 8 species, and includes new records for Abs. anceyi (Olivier 1883), Abs. chinensis (L.) (which is newly synonymised with Luciola succincta Bourgeois), Abs. terminalis (Olivier 1883) including a first record from both Laos and Thailand, and Abs. perplexa (Walker 1858). Luciola pallescens Gorham 1880 is transferred to Abscondita and the pronotal colour range is addressed from a wide range of localities. Abs. berembun Nada sp. nov. and Abs. jerangau Nada sp. nov. are described from Malaysia. Hooked bursa plates are described for pallescens and berembun. Aquilonia Ballantyne 2009 is expanded to include 3 species. Gilvainsula Ballantyne 2009, represented by two species from the south eastern coast of New Guinea is synonymised under Aquilonia Ballantyne 2009, which is briefly redescribed and keyed from: Aquil. costata (Lea) from northern Australia, including many new records, Aquil. messoria (Ballantyne) comb. nov. and Aquil. similismessoria (Ballantyne) comb. nov. Asymmetricata Ballantyne 2009 now includes 4 species. As. bicoloripes (Pic 1927) comb. nov. and As. humeralis (Walker 1858) comb. nov. are transferred from Luciola, with L. doriae Olivier 1885, L. impressa Olivier 1910b and L. notatipennis Olivier 1909a newly synonymised with As. humeralis. Luciola aemula Olivier 1891 is synonymised with As. ovalis (Hope 1831). The variation in the extent of the anterior median emargination of the light organ in ventrite 7, and the possibility of a bipartite light organ in males of As. circumdata (Motsch. 1854) is explored. Females of both As. circumdata and As. ovalis (Hope 1831) are without bursa plates and the distinctively shaped median oviduct plate in each is described. Records from Thailand are recorded for both As. circumdata and As. ovalis. Atyphella Olliff 1890 now contains 28 species with 4 transferred from other genera, and one new species: Aty. abdominalis (Olivier 1886) comb. nov. and Aty. striata (Fabricius 1801) comb. nov. are transferred from Luciola, with Aty. carolinae Olivier 1911b and Aty. rennellia (Ballantyne 2009) comb. nov. transferred from Magnalata Ballantyne 2009. Atyphella telokdalam Ballantyne sp. nov. from Indonesia is described herein. Atyphella is now known from records in the Philippines and Indonesia as well as Australia and New Guinea. Colophotia Motschulsky 1853 is considered here from seven species for which intact types can be located for three. An abbreviated revision based on the United States National Museum collection only is presented, with specimens of C. bakeri Pic 1924, C. brevis Olivier 1903a, C. plagiata (Erichson 1834) and C. praeusta (Eschscholtz 1822) redescribed, using where possible features of males, females and larvae. Colophotia particulariventris Pic 1938 is newly synonymised with C. praeusta. Colophotia miranda Olivier 1886 and L. truncata Olivier 1886 are treated as species incertae sedis. Curtos Motschulsky 1845 includes 19 species with suggestions made, but not yet formalised, for the possible transfer of the following seven species from Luciola: Luciola complanata Gorham 1895, L. costata Pic 1929, L. delauneyi Bourgeois 1890, L. deplanata Pic 1929, L. extricans Walker 1858, L. multicostulata Pic 1927 and L. nigripes Gorham 1903. Curtos is not revised here. Emarginata Ballantyne gen nov. is described for E. trilucida (Jeng et al. 2003b) comb. nov., transferred from Luciola and characterised by the emarginated elytral apex. An extended range of specimens from Thailand is listed. Kuantana Ballantyne gen. nov. from Selangor, Malaysia is described from K. menayah gen. et sp. nov. having bipartite light organs in ventrite 7 and an asymmetrical tergite 8 which is not emarginated on its left side. Female has no bursa plates. Luciola Laporte 1833 s. stricto as defined by a population of the type species Luciola italica (L. 1767) from Pisa, Italy, is further expanded and considered to comprise the following19 species: L. antipodum (Bourgeois 1884), L. aquilaclara Ballantyne 2013, L. chapaensis Pic 1923 which is synonymised with L. atripes Pic 1929, L. curtithorax Pic 1928, L. filiformis Olivier 1913c, L. horni Bourgeois 1905, L. hypocrita Olivier 1888, L. italica (L. 1767), L. kagiana Matsumura 1928, L. oculofissa Ballantyne 2013, L. pallidipes Pic 1928 which is synonymised with L. fletcheri Pic 1935, L. parvula Kiesenwetter 1874, L. satoi Jeng & Yang 2003, L. tuberculata Yiu 2017, and two species treated as near L. laticollis Gorham 1883, and near L. nicollieri Bugnion 1922. The following are described as new: L. niah Jusoh sp. nov., L. jengai Nada sp. nov. and L. tiomana Ballantyne sp. nov. Luciola niah sp. nov. female has two wide bursa plates on each side of the bursa. Luciola s. lato (as defined here) consists of 36 species. Twenty-seven species formerly standing under Luciola have been assigned to other genera or synonymised. Seven species are recommended for transfer to Curtos, and 32 species now stand under species incertae sedis. Magnalata Ballantyne is reduced to the type species M. limbata and redescribed. Medeopteryx Ballantyne 2013 is expanded to 20 species with the addition of two new combinations, Med. semimarginata (Olivier 1883) comb. nov. and Med. timida (Olivier 1883) comb. nov., both transferred from Luciola, and one new species, Med. fraseri Nada sp. nov. from Malaysia. The range of this genus now extends from Australia and the island of New Guinea to SE Asia. Medeopteryx semimarginata females have wide paired bursa plates. Pygoluciola Wittmer 1939 now includes 19 species with 5 new species: P. bangladeshi Ballantyne sp. nov., P. dunguna Nada 2018, P. matalangao Ballantyne sp. nov. (scored by the code name ‘Jeng Matalanga’ in Ballantyne & Lambkin 2013), P. phupan Ballantyne sp. nov. and P. tamarat Jusoh sp. nov. Six species are transferred from Luciola: P. abscondita (Olivier 1891) comb. nov., P. ambita (Olivier 1896) comb. nov., P. calceata (Olivier 1905) comb. nov., P. insularis (Olivier 1883) comb. nov., P. nitescens (Olivier 1903b) comb. nov. and P. vitalisi (Pic 1934) comb. nov., and redescribed from males, and includes female reproductive anatomy for P. nitescens comb. nov. and P. dunguna, both of which have hooked bursa plates. Serratia Ballantyne gen. nov. is erected for S. subuyania gen. et sp. nov. and characterised by the serrate nature of certain antennal flagellar segments in the male. The following 37 species listed under species incertae sedis are further explored: Colophotia miranda Olivier 1886, Lampyris serraticornis Boisduval 1835, Luciola angusticollis Olivier 1886, L. antennalis Bourgeois 1905, L. antica (Boisduval 1835), L. apicalis (Eschscholtz 1822), L. aurantiaca Pic 1927, L. bicoloriceps Pic 1924, L. binhana Pic 1927, L. bourgeoisi Olivier 1895, L. dilatata Pic 1929, L. exigua (Gyllenhall 1817), L. exstincta Olivier 1886, L. fissicollis Fairmaire 1891, L. flava Pic 1929, L. flavescens (Boisduval 1835), L. fukiensis Pic 1955, L. immarginata Bourgeois 1890, L. incerta (Boisduval 1835), L. infuscata (Erichson 1834), L. intricata (Walker 1858), L. japonica (Thunberg 1784), L. klapperichi Pic 1955, L. lata Olivier 1883, L. limbalis Fairmaire 1889, L. marginipennis (Boisduval 1835), L. melancholica Olivier 1913a, L. robusticeps Pic 1928, L. ruficollis (Boisduval 1835), L. spectralis Gorham 1880, L. stigmaticollis Fairmaire 1887, L. tincticollis Gorham 1895, L. trivandrensis Raj 1947, L. truncata Olivier 1886, L. vittata (Laporte 1833) Pteroptyx atripennis Pic 1923 and P. curticollis Pic 1923. While phylogenetic analyses indicate their distinctiveness, no further taxonomic action is taken with Luciola cruciata Motschulsky 1854 and L. owadai Sâtô et Kimura 1994 from Japan given the importance of the former as a national icon. Analyses also indicate that Lampyroidea syriaca Costa 1875 belongs in Luciola s. str. A much wider taxonomic analysis of this genus including all the species is necessary before any further action can be taken.

Recent studies have elucidated the role of several pro-inflammatory factors as mediators of inflammatory processes in the bovine endometrium. Only few studies, however, have analyzed samples collected from different regions of the uterus of the same animal. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that on a molecular level, clinical endometritis is characterized by inflammatory responses spread over the entire endometrium. Furthermore, we assume that subclinical endometritis is described by an inflammation of local regions of the uterus. Therefore, the objective of this study was to assess the mRNA expression of uterus-associated pro-inflammatory factors at five pre-defined endometrial sites, i.e., corpus uteri, left horn base, left horn tip, right horn base, and right horn tip, in cows with clinical and subclinical endometritis and in healthy controls. We analyzed the mRNA expression of interleukin 1 alpha, interleukin 1 beta, C-X-C motif chemokine ligand 8, prostaglandin-endoperoxide synthase 2, protein tyrosine phosphatase receptor type C, carcinoembryonic antigen related cell adhesion molecule 1, and mucin 4 and 16. Based on vaginoscopy and endometrial cytology (≥ 5% polymorphonuclear neutrophils) between 28 to 34 days in milk, 18 Simmental cows were categorized in clinical endometritis group (n = 7), subclinical endometritis group (n = 4), and healthy group (n = 7). In general, the analyses revealed a great variation of mRNA expression between sites and animals. Differences were found between different uterine health statuses, but the variation between the sampling sites within the groups was not significant (P &gt; 0.05). This indicates that inflammatory processes at the end of the postpartum period can be regarded as multi-focal or spread throughout the uterus independent from the uterine health status.

About 238 mature Forest Muturu cattle were sampled from Southern Nigeria (Enugu, Imo, Delta, Anambra and Ebonyi) States. Discriminant analysis was performed on the effects of location using body weight and body linear parameters. Horn length was the only parameter selected for stepwise discriminant analysis to separate the populations of forest Muturu bulls. Horn length, muzzle circumference, body length, chest girt and ear length were the selected parameters by stepwise discriminant analysis to separate the forest Muturu cows populations. The strength of the canonical correlation model to explain the variations between the groups 0.615, 0.450, 0.364 and 0.335 for functions 1, 2, 3 and 4 respectively among cows and 0.71, 0.59, 0.50 and 0.29 for functions 1, 2, 3 and 4 respectively among bulls. Location was found to influence body parameters. There is need to carry out further study to assess performance characterization of the Forest Muturu cattle in Nigeria to identify the superior genetic grades base on economic traits which may be useful in establishing necleous breeding center.

Since 2007, West Nile virus (WNV) has been reported in South African horses, causing severe neurological signs. All cases were of lineage 2, except for one case that clustered with lineage 1 viruses. In the present study, gross and microscopic lesions of six South African lineage 2-infected horses and the one lineage 1 case are described. Diagnoses were confirmed by real-time reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) of central nervous system (CNS) tissue and one by RT-PCR of a brain virus isolate. The CNS of all cases was negative by RT-PCR or immunohistochemistry (IHC) for African horse sickness (AHS), equine encephalosis virus, equine herpes viruses 1 and 4, other zoonotic flaviviruses, alphaviruses, and shunivirus, and either by immunofluorescence or IHC for rabies. Gross visceral lesions were nonspecific but often mimicked those of AHS. The CNS histopathology of WNV lineage 2 cases resembled the nonsuppurative polioencephalomyelitis reported in the Northern Hemisphere lineage 1 and recent Hungarian lineage 2 cases. Occasional meningitis, focal spinal ventral horn poliomalacia, dorsal and lateral horn poliomyelitis, leucomyelitis, asymmetrical ventral motor spinal neuritis and frequent olfactory region involvement were also seen. Lineage 2 cases displayed marked variations in CNS lesion severity, type and distribution, and suggested various viral entry routes into the CNS, based on findings in experimental mice and hamsters. Lineage 1 lesions were comparable to the milder lineage 2 cases. West Nile virus IHC on CNS sections with marked lesions from all cases elicited only two antigen-positive cells in the olfactory cortex of one case. The presence in the CNS of T-lymphocytes, B-lymphocytes, plasma cells and macrophage-monocytes was confirmed by cluster of differentiation (CD) 3, CD20, multiple myeloma oncogene 1 (MUM1) and macrophage (MAC) 387 IHC.

Tef (Eragrostis tef), a staple crop that originated in the Horn of Africa, has been introduced to multiple countries over the last several decades. Crop cultivation in new geographic regions raises questions regarding the molecular basis for biotic stress responses. In this study, we aimed to classify the insect abundance on tef crop in Israel, and to elucidate its chemical and physical defense mechanisms in response to insect feeding. To discover the main pests of tef in the Mediterranean climate, we conducted an insect field survey on three selected accessions named RTC-144, RTC-405, and RTC-406, and discovered that the most abundant insect order is Hemiptera. We compared the differences in Rhopalosiphum padi (Hemiptera; Aphididae) aphid performance, preference, and feeding behavior between the three accessions. While the number of aphid progeny was lower on RTC-406 than on the other two, the aphid olfactory assay indicated that the aphids tended to be repelled from the RTC-144 accession. To highlight the variation in defense responses, we investigated the physical and chemical mechanisms. As a physical barrier, the density of non-granular trichomes was evaluated, in which a higher number of trichomes on the RTC-406 than on the other accessions was observed. This was negatively correlated with aphid performance. To determine chemical responses, the volatile and central metabolite profiles were measured upon aphid attack for 4 days. The volatile analysis exposed a rich and dynamic metabolic profile, and the central metabolism profile indicated that tef plants adjust their sugars and organic and amino acid levels. Overall, we found that the tef plants possess similar defense responses as other Poaceae family species, while the non-volatile deterrent compounds are yet to be characterized. A transcriptomic time-series analysis of a selected accession RTC-144 infested with aphids revealed a massive alteration of genes related to specialized metabolism that potentially synthesize non-volatile toxic compounds. This is the first report to reveal the variation in the defense mechanisms of tef plants. These findings can facilitate the discovery of insect-resistance genes leading to enhanced yield in tef and other cereal crops.

Abstract Study question Can computerized virtual histerotomography (CT-HSG) be used for the evaluation of fallopian tube patency and pelvic organs in patients seeking pregnancy? Summary answer: CT-HSG seems to be an adequate test for the evaluation of fallopian tube patency, pelvic organs, and the uterine cavity. What is known already CT-HSG is a minimally invasive exam, which diagnoses variations in the female reproductive system, uses low radiation doses and is well tolerated by patients. It simultaneously evaluates the uterine wall, cavity and cervix, tubes, and adjacent pelvic structures. The exam enables virtual navigation, which consists of the endoluminal view of the cervical canal and uterine cavity and allows 3D reconstruction of images. The exam remains underused to assess infertility, but previous studies have shown potential and its use may be widespread. Study design, size, duration Retrospective cohort study, that included data from 317 women seeking pregnancy, between January/2019 and January/2021. The CT-HSG was indicated for infertility (90.3%) and RPL (0.9%) investigation, and for the evaluation of tubal stump in patients who were planning the tubal reversal surgery (8.8%). Patients filled out a questionnaire about their pain symptoms and data were collected from electronic records. Participants/materials, setting, methods The study analyzed patients’ clinical characteristics and image findings regarding tubes, uterine cavity, and ovaries. For the exam, a catheter was positioned in the cervix, where the contrast medium (iopromide) was injected through an infusion pump at 0.30 ml/s, for a total of 20ml. The tomographic slices were obtained at the 50th second. The CT-HSG images were interpreted by the same gynecologist and radiologist. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 20.0. Main results and the role of chance Women and partners’ mean age was 32.7 ± 5.6 and 34.6 ± 7.7 years, respectively, and women’s mean BMI was 28.4 ± 6.4 Kg/m². The pain scale was applied in 103 patients, who reported 5.4±3.2 pain scale scores at the end of the exam. Among the infertile patients 67% were nulliparous. Regarding the exam findings, most of the uterus findings were normal (72.6%). The variations found were uterine malformations (including unicornuate uterus, uterus didelphys, bicornuate uterus, septate uterus, and arcuate uterus), synechia, fibroids, endometrial polyps, adenomyosis and retractions/lateralizations that may suggest endometriosis. The tubal findings on the right/left (%) were: 65/67.5 patent horn; 18.9/17.7 obstructed tubes; 4/41 dilatation/hydrosalpinx and 9.4/9.1 with previous history of tubal ligation or salpingectomy; 1.5% of the tubal evaluation were inconclusive. Eleven from 317 patients had to repeat the exam due to occurrences during the execution (for example, improper catheter positioning, cuff fall, stenosis of the internal cervical ostium, severe pain).The 3D analysis and virtual navigation assist in the findings assessment, in addition to being simpler for the gynecologists evaluation. Limitations, reasons for caution The sample size is small due to the exam being a new technique. Patient follow-up and correlation with laparoscopy and hysteroscopy, when indicated, are under studied. Wider implications of the findings: The exam seems to be promising for assessing infertility, RPL and the tubal stump. Moreover, it may be a good option to hysterosalpingography as it seems to cause less pain and allows to evaluate the ovaries and the uterine contour, added to 3D reconstructions and to virtual uterine navigation. Trial registration number Not applicable

Screens, as technological but also narrative and social devices, alter reading and writing practices. Users consume vids, read stories on the Web, and produce creative contents on blogs or Web archives, etc. Uses of seriality and transmediality are here discussed, that is watching, reading, and writing as interpreting, as well as respective and reciprocal uses of iteration and interaction (with technologies and with others). A specific figure of users or readers will be defined as a skilful and literate audience: fans on archives (FanFiction.net-FFNet, and Archive of Our Own-AO3). Fans produce serial and transmedia narratives based upon their favourite TV Shows, publish on-line, and often produce discourses or meta-discourse on this writing practice or on writing in general.The broader perspective of reception studies allows us to develop a three-step methodology that develops into a process. The first step is an ethnographic approach based on practices and competencies of users. The second step develops and clarifies the ethnographic dimension into an ethno-narrative approach, which aims at analysing mutual links between signs, texts, and uses of reading and writing. The main question is that of significance and meaning. The third step elaborates upon interactions in a technological and mediated environment. Social, participative, or collaborative and multimodal dimensions of interacting are yet regarded as key elements in reshaping a reading-writing cultural practice. The model proposed is a socio-narrative device, which hangs upon three dimensions: techno-narrative, narratological, and socio-narrative. These three dimensions of a shared narrative universe illustrate the three steps process. Each step also offers specific uses of interacting: an ethnographic approach of fictional expectation, a narrative ethnography of iteration and transformation, and a socio-narrative perspective on dialogism and recognition. A specific but significant example of fans' uses of reading and interacting will illustrate each step of the methodology. This qualitative approach of individual uses aims to be representative of fans' cultural practice (See Appendix 1). We will discuss cultural uses of appropriation. How do reading, interpreting, writing, and rewriting, that is to say interacting, produce meaning, create identities, and build up our relation to others and to the (story)world? Given our interest in embodied and appropriated meanings, appropriation will be revealed as an open cultural process, which can question the conflict and/or the convergence of the old and the new in cultural practices, and the way former and formal dichotomies have to be re-evaluated. We will take an interest in the composition of meaning that unfolds a cultural and critical process, from acknowledgement to recognition, a process where iteration and transformation are no longer opposites but part of a continuum.From Users' Competencies to the Composition of Narrative and Social Skills: A Fictional ExpectationThe pragmatic question of real uses steers our approach toward reading and writing in a mediated environment. Michel de Certeau's work first encourages us to apply his concepts of strategies and tactics to institutional strategies of engaging the audience and to real audience tactics of appropriation or diversion. Real uses are traceable on forums, discussions groups, weblogs, and archives. A model can be built upon digital tracks of use left on fan fiction archives: types of audience, interactions, and types of usage are here considered.Media Types Interaction Types Usage Types Media audienceConsumerSkilfulViewingReadingInformation searchContent production (informative, critical, and creative)Multimedia audienceConsumerSkilful+Online readingE-shoppingSharingRecommendationDiscussionInformative content productionCross-media audienceConsumerSkilful+SerendipityPutting objects in perspectiveNetworkingCritical content productionTransmedia audienceConsumerSkilfulInvolvedPrecursor+Understanding enhanced narrativesValue judgments, evaluationUnderstanding economic dimensions of the media systemCreative content productionTable 1 (Cailler and Masoni Lacroix)Users gear their reading and writing practices toward one medium, or toward multiple media in multi-, cross-, and trans- dimensions. These dimensions engage different and specific kinds of content production, and also the way users think about their relation to the media system. We focus on cumulative uses needed in an evolving media system. Depending on their desire for cultural products issued from creative and entertainment industries, audiences can be consumer-oriented or skilful, but also what we term "involved" or "precursor." Their interactive capacity within these industries allows audiences to produce informative, narrative, discursive, creative (or re-creative), and critical content. An ethnographic approach, based upon uses, understands that accumulating, crossing, and mastering different uses requires available and potential competencies and literacies, which may be immediately usable, or which have to be gained.Figure 1 (Masoni Lacroix and Cailler)The English language enables us to use different words to specify competencies, from ability to skill (when multiple abilities tend towards appropriation), to capability and competency (when multiple skills tend towards cultural practice). This introduces an enhancement process, which describes the way users accumulate and cross competencies to enhance their capability of understanding a multimedia or transmedia system, shaped by multiple semiotic systems and literacies.Abilities and skills represent different literacies that can be distributed in four groups-literacy, graphic literacy, digital literacy and interactive literacy, converging to a core of competencies including cognitive capability, communicative capability, cultural capability and critical capability. Note that critical skills appear below in bold italics. Digital LiteracyTechnical ability / Computational ability / Digital ability or skill Informational skill Visual LiteracyGraphic abilityVisual abilitySemiotic skillSymbolic skill Core of CompetenciesCognitive capabilityCommunicative capabilityCultural capabilityCritical capability Interactive LiteracyInteractional abilitySpectatorial abilityCollective abilityAffective skill LiteracyNarrative ability or skill / Linguistic ability / Reading and interpreting ability / Mimetic and fictional ability Discursive skillTable 2 (Masoni Lacroix and Cailler)Our first illustration exhibits the diversity, even the profuse and confused multiplicity, of cultural influences and preferences of a fan, which he or she comprehends as a whole.Gabihime, born on 6 October in Lafayette, Louisiana, in the United States, joined FFNet in 2001, and last updated her profile in September of 2010. She has written 44 stories for a variety of fandoms, and she belongs to two fandom communities. She has written one story about Twin Peaks (1990-) for an annual fandom gift exchange in 2008. Within Twin Peaks, her favourite and only romantic pair is Audrey Horne and Dale Cooper. Pairing represents a formal and cultural use of fan fiction writing, and also a favourite variation of the original text. Gabihime proposes notes to follow the story:I love Twin Peaks, and I love Audrey Horne particularly, and the rich stilted imagery of the show certainly […] I started watching my favourite season one episodes and reading the script notes for them. When I got to the 4-5 episode break (when Cooper comes back from visiting Jacques's cabin to the delightful sounds of the Icelandic junket roaring at their big shindig and finds Audrey in his bed) I discovered that this scene was originally intended to be left extremely ambiguous.Two main elements can be highlighted. Love founds fans' relation to the characters and the text. Interaction is based on this affect or emotion. Ambiguity, real or presumed, leads to what can be called a fictional expectation. This strong motive to interact within a text means that readers have to fill in the blanks of the text (Jenkins, "Transmedia"). They fill it with their desire for a character, a pairing, and a story. Another illustration of a fan's affective investment, Lynzee005 (see below) specifies that her fiction, "shows what I hope happened in between the scenes to which we were treated in the series."Gabihime does not write fan fiction stories anymore. She has a web site where she posts her stories and links to other fan art, vids, or fiction, as well as a blog where she writes her original fiction, and various meta-narrative and/or meta-discursive productions, including a wiki, Tumblr account, LiveJournal page, and Twitter account.A Narrative Ethnography of Fans' Production Content: Acculturation as Iteration and TransformationWe can briefly focus on another partial but significant example of narratives and discourses of a fan, in the perspective of a qualitative and iterative approach. We will then emphasise that narratives and discourses circulate, in other words that they are written and reformulated in and on different periods and platforms, but also that narratives use iteration and variation (Eco 1985).Lynzee005 was born in 1985 in Canada. She joined FFNet in 2008 and last updated her profile in September 2015. She has a beta profile, which means that she reads and reviews other fans' work-in-progress. We can also clarify that publishing chapter-by-chapter and being re-read on FFNet appears to be a principle of writing and of writing circulation. So, writing reveals an iterative and participative practice.Prior to this updating she wrote:When I read, I look for an emotional connection with the characters and I hope to be genuinely invested in where the story is going. […] I tackle everything in chunks, concentrating on the big issues (consistent characterization, believable plot lines, etc.) before moving down to the smaller ones (spelling, punctuation). Once I finish reading a "chunk," I put it together in the whole and see if it works against the other "chunks," and if not, then I go back and start over.She has written 17 stories for 7 different fandoms. She wrote five stories for Twin Peaks including a crossover with another fandom. She joined AO3 in December 2014 and completed her Twin Peaks trilogy. Her profile no longer underlines this serial process of chunking and dispersal, stressed by Jenkins ("Transmedia"), but only evokes how scenes can be stitched together. She now insists on the outcome of unity or continuity rather than on the process of serialization and fragmentation.Stories about fans, their affective and interpretive relations to a story universe and their uses of reading and writing in and out a fandom, can illustrate a diversity of attachments and interests. We can briefly describe a range of attachments. Attachment to the character, described above, can move towards self-narration, to the exhibit of self both as a person and a character, to a self-distancing, an identity affect. Attachment also has interpretative and critical dimensions. Attached to a narrative universe, attached to storytelling, fans promote a writing normalisation and a narrative format (genre, pairing, tagging, memes, etc.). Every fan seems to iterate and alter this conduct. This appropriation renews self-imposed narrative codes. The use of writing by fans, based on attachments, is both iterative and transformative. The Organization for Transformative Works (OTW), AO3's parent apparatus, asserts that derivative fans' work is transformative.According to Umberto Eco's vision of a postmodern aesthetics of seriality, "Something is offered as original and different […] this something is repeating something else that we already know; and […] just because of it we like it" (167). There is an "enjoyment of variations" (174). "Seriality and repetition are not opposed to innovation" (175). Eco claims a dialectic between repetition and innovation, that is to say a: "dialectic between order and novelty -in other words, between scheme and innovation," where "the variation is no longer more appreciable than the scheme" (173). We acknowledge the "inseparable knot of scheme-variation" he is stressing (Eco 180), and we intend to put narrative fragmentation and narration dispersal forward to their reconstruction in a narrative universe as a whole, within the socio-narrative device. The knot illustrates the dialogical principle of exceeding dichotomies that will be discussed hereunder.The plurality of uses and media calls for an accumulation of competencies, which engage users in the process of media acculturation. A "literate" or skilful user should be able to comprehend "the flow of content across multiple media platforms," the media industries' cooperation, "the migratory behavior of media audiences," and the "technological, industrial, cultural, and social changes" that the word convergence manages to describe (Jenkins, Convergence, 3).Acculturation conveys an appropriation process, borrowed from "French" sociology of uses. Audiences become gradually intimate with the context of the evolving media environment. Scholars progressively understand how audiences are familiarizing themselves with competencies until they master literacies, where competencies are gathered. Users become sensitive, as well as mindful of time and space in literacy (Literacy), and of how writing can be spatialised (Graphic Literacy), of how the media space is technologized (Digital Literacy), and of what kind of structural interactions are emerging (Interactive Literacy).Thus, the research question takes shape: "What kind of interactions can users establish with objects that are both technical and cultural?" Which also means: "In a study of effective uses, can the researcher find appropriation logics or tactics in the way users, specifically here readers and writers, improve their cultural practices?" As Davallon and Le Marec furthered it, uses have to be included in a process of cultural growth. Users can cross technical and cultural dimensions of an object in two main ways: They can compare the object with other cultural products they are used to, or they can grasp its novelty when engaging a cognitive and cultural capability of adaptation. Acknowledgment and adaption are part of the social process of cultural growth. In this sense, use can be an integrated activity or a novel one.The model of cultural growth means that different and dispersed uses are progressively entering a meaning-making process. The question of meaning holds together, even unifies, multiple uses of reading and writing in a cultural practice of reading-writing. With this in mind, the core of competencies described above accurately displays the importance of critical skills (semiotic, informational, affective, symbolic, narrative, and discursive) nourishing a critical capability. Critically literate, users are able to question the place to which they have been attributed and the place they can gain, in an evolving (and even uncertain) media system. They can elaborate a critical reflection on their own practices of reading and writing.Two Principles of a Socio-Narrative Device: Dialogism and RecognitionUses of reading and writing online invite us to visualize and think through the convergence of a narrative object (technical, visual, and cultural), its medium and format(s), and the audiences involved. Here, multimodality has to be (re)considered. This is not only a question of different modes but a question of multiplicity in reading and writing uses, that leads us to the way a fan attachment creates his or her participation in the meaning of the text, and more generally leads us to the polyphonic form of writing questions. Dispersed uses converging into a cultural and social practice bring to light dialogical dimensions of writing, in the sense pointed out by Bakhtin in the early 1930s. Dialogism expands the notion of intertextuality to a social practice; enunciation appears polyphonic, and speakers are interacting. Every discourse is oriented to other discourses, interacting and responding to pre-existing discourses addressing the same object. Discourse is always others' discourse and shows a multiple and inter-relational subject.A fan producing meta-narratives or meta-discourses on media and fan fiction is an inter-relational subject. By way of illustration, Slaymesoftly, displays her stories on AO3, on her own Web site, and on specialized archives. She does not justify fan fiction writing through warnings or disclaimers but defines broadly what fiction is and how she uses fiction in her stories. She analyses publishing, describes her universe and the alternative universes that she explores, and depicts how stories become a series. Slaymesoftly can be considered a literate fan, approaching writing with emotion or attachment and critical rationality, or more precisely, leading her attachment to writing with the distance that critical thought allows. She writes "Essays -about writing, vampires, and whatever else I decide to blather on about" on her Web site or on her LiveJournal, where she also joined a community. In the main, Slaymesoftly experiences multiple variations, in the sense of Eco, variations that oppose and tie a character to a canon, or a loving writing object to what could be newly told. Slaymesoftly also exposes the desire for recognition engaged by fans' uses of interaction. This process of mutual recognition, stated in Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit highlights and questions fans' attachment, individual identity, and normative foundation. Mutual recognition could strengthen communitarianism or conformism in writing, but it can also offer a way for attachments to be shared, a way to initiate a narrative, and a social practice of dialog.Dialogical dimensions of cultural practices of reading-writing (both in production and reception) design a fragmented narrative universe, unfinished but one, that can be comprehend in a socio-narrative device.Figure 2 (Masoni Lacroix & Cailler)Texts, authors, writers, and readers are not opposed but are part of a socio-narrative continuity. This device crosses three complementary and evolving dimensions of the narrative universe: techno-narrative, socio-narrative (playful, creative, and critical, in their interactivity), and narratological. Uses of literacy generating multimedia, cross-media, and transmedia productions also question the multimodal form of writing and invite us to an iterative, open, dialogical, and interrogative practice of multimodality. A (post)narratological activity opens up to an interrogative practice. This practice dialogs with others' discourse and narrative. The questioning complexity remains open. In a proximate meaning, a transmedia narrative is fragmented, open to incompletion, but enrolled in a continuum (Jenkins, "Transmedia").Looking back, through the overtaken dichotomy between production and reception, a social and narrative process has been described that leads to the reshaping of multiple uses of literacies into cultural practices, and further on, to a cultural and social practice of reading-writing blended into interactivity. Competencies, dictated uses of reading and writing and alterna(rra)tive upsurges (as fans' production content) can be questioned. What can be questioned is either the fragmentation, the incompletion, and the continuity of narratives, that Jenkins no longer brings into conflict ("Transmedia"). This is also what the social and narrative form of dialogism teaches us: dichotomies, as a tool or a structure of thought, appear suspect or no longer significant. There is continuity in the acculturation process, from acknowledgement to recognition, continuity in the multiple uses of interacting, continuity from narrative to discourse, continuity from emotion to writing critically, a transformative continuity in iteration and variation, a polyphonic continuity.ReferencesBakhtin, Michaïl, and V.N. Volosinov. Marxism and the Philosophy of Language. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1973.Cailler, Bruno, and Céline Masoni Lacroix. "El 'French Touch' Transmediatico: Un Inventario." Transmediación: Espacios, Reflexiones y Experiencias. Eds. Denis Porto Renó et al. Bogotá, Colombia: Editorial Universidad del Rosario, 2012. 181-98.Davallon, Jean, and Joëlle Le Marec. "L'Usage en son Contexte. Sur les Usages des Interactifs des Céderons des Musées." Réseaux 101 (2000): 173-95.De Certeau, Michel. L'Invention du Quotidien. Paris: Folio Essais, 1990.Eco, Umberto. "Innovation and Repetition: Between Modern and Postmodern Aesthetics." Daedalus 114 (1985): 161-84.Hegel, G.W.F. Phénoménologie de l'Esprit. Trans. Bernard Bourgeois. Paris: Vrin, 2006.Jenkins, Henry. Convergence Culture. Where Old and New Media Collide. New York UP, 2006.———. "Transmedia 202: Further Reflections." 2011. <http://henryjenkins.org/2011/08/defining_transmedia_further_re.html>.Masoni Lacroix, Céline. "Mise en Récit des Fictions de Fans de Séries Télévisées: Variations, Granularité et Réflexivité." Tension narrative et Storytelling. Eds. Nicolas Pélissier and Marc Marti. Paris: L'harmattan, 2014. 83-100.———. "Narrativités 2.0: Fragmentation-Organisation d'un Métadiscours." Cahiers de Narratologie 32 (2017). <http://journals.openedition.org/narratologie/7781>.———, and Bruno Cailler. "Fans versus Universitaires, l'Hypothèse Dialogique de la Transmédialité au sein d'un Dispositif Socio-narratif." Revue française des sciences de l'information et de la communication 7 (2015). <http://journals.openedition.org/rfsic/1662>.———, and Bruno Cailler. "Principes Co-extensifs de la Fiction Sérielle, de la Distribution Diffusée à une Pratique Interprétative Dialogique: une Nouvelle Donne Socio-narrative?" Cahiers de Narratologie 31 (2016). <http://narratologie.revues.org/7576>. TV Show Fandoms ExploredBuffy The Vampire Slayer (Joss Whedon).Sherlock (Mark Gatiss & Steven Moffat).Twin Peaks (Mark Frost & David Lynch).Wallander (from Henning Mankell to Philip Martin).

“Journalists have to begin a new type of journalism, sometimes being the guide on the side of the civic conversation as well as the filter and gatekeeper.” (Kolodzy 218) “In many respects, citizen journalism is simply public journalism removed from the journalism profession.” (Barlow 181) 1. Citizen Journalism — The Latest Innovation? New Media theorists such as Dan Gillmor, Henry Jenkins, Jay Rosen and Jeff Howe have recently touted Citizen Journalism (CJ) as the latest innovation in 21st century journalism. “Participatory journalism” and “user-driven journalism” are other terms to describe CJ, which its proponents argue is a disruptive innovation (Christensen) to the agenda-setting media institutions, news values and “objective” reportage. In this essay I offer a “contrarian” view, informed by two perspectives: (1) a three-stage model of theory-building (Carlile & Christensen) to evaluate the claims made about CJ; and (2) self-reflexive research insights (Etherington) from editing the US-based news site Disinformation between November 1999 and February 2008. New media theories can potentially create “cognitive dissonance” (Festinger) when their explanations of CJ practices are compared with what actually happens (Feyerabend). First I summarise Carlile & Christensen’s model and the dangers of “bad theory” (Ghoshal). Next I consider several problems in new media theories about CJ: the notion of ‘citizen’, new media populism, parallels in event-driven and civic journalism, and mergers and acquisitions. Two ‘self-reflexive’ issues are considered: ‘pro-ams’ or ‘professional amateurs’ as a challenge to professional journalists, and CJ’s deployment in new media operations and production environments. Finally, some exploratory questions are offered for future researchers. 2. An Evaluative Framework for New Media Theories on Citizen Journalism Paul Carlile and Clayton M. Christensen’s model offers one framework with which to evaluate new media theories on CJ. This framework is used below to highlight select issues and gaps in CJ’s current frameworks and theories. Carlile & Christensen suggest that robust theory-building emerges via three stages: Descriptive, Categorisation and Normative (Carlile & Christensen). There are three sub-stages in Descriptive theory-building; namely, the observation of phenomena, inductive classification into schemas and taxonomies, and correlative relationships to develop models (Carlile & Christensen 2-5). Once causation is established, Normative theory evolves through deductive logic which is subject to Kuhnian paradigm shifts and Popperian falsifiability (Carlile & Christensen 6). Its proponents situate CJ as a Categorisation or new journalism agenda that poses a Normative challenged and Kuhnian paradigm shift to traditional journalism. Existing CJ theories jump from the Descriptive phase of observations like “smart mobs” in Japanese youth subcultures (Rheingold) to make broad claims for Categorisation such as that IndyMedia, blogs and wiki publishing systems as new media alternatives to traditional media. CJ theories then underpin normative beliefs, values and worldviews. Correlative relationships are also used to differentiate CJ from the demand side of microeconomic analysis, from the top-down editorial models of traditional media outlets, and to adopt a vanguard stance. To support this, CJ proponents cite research on emergent collective behaviour such as the “wisdom of crowds” hypothesis (Surowiecki) or peer-to-peer network “swarms” (Pesce) to provide scientific justification for their Normative theories. However, further evaluative research is needed for three reasons: the emergent collective behaviour hypothesis may not actually inform CJ practices, existing theories may have “correlation not cause” errors, and the link may be due to citation network effects between CJ theorists. Collectively, this research base also frames CJ as an “ought to” Categorisation and then proceeds to Normative theory-building (Carlile & Christensen 7). However, I argue below that this Categorisation may be premature: its observations and correlative relationships might reinforce a ‘weak’ Normative theory with limited generalisation. CJ proponents seem to imply that it can be applied anywhere and under any condition—a “statement of causality” that almost makes it a fad (Carlile & Christensen 8). CJ that relies on Classification and Normative claims will be problematic without a strong grounding in Descriptive observation. To understand what’s potentially at stake for CJ’s future consider the consider the parallel debate about curricula renewal for the Masters of Business Administration in the wake of high-profile corporate collapses such as Enron, Worldcom, HIH and OneTel. The MBA evolved as a sociological and institutional construct to justify management as a profession that is codified, differentiated and has entry barriers (Khurana). This process might partly explain the pushback that some media professionals have to CJ as one alternative. MBA programs faced criticism if they had student cohorts with little business know-how or experiential learning (Mintzberg). Enron’s collapse illustrated the ethical dilemmas and unintended consequences that occurred when “bad theories” were implemented (Ghoshal). Professional journalists are aware of this: MBA-educated managers challenged the “craft” tradition in the early 1980s (Underwood). This meant that journalism’s ‘self-image’ (Morgan; Smith) is intertwined with managerial anxieties about media conglomerates in highly competitive markets. Ironically, as noted below, Citizen Journalists who adopt a vanguard position vis-a-vis media professionals step into a more complex game with other players. However, current theories have a naïve idealism about CJ’s promise of normative social change in the face of Machiavellian agency in business, the media and politics. 3. Citizen Who? Who is the “citizen” in CJ? What is their self-awareness as a political agent? CJ proponents who use the ‘self-image’ of ‘citizen’ draw on observations from the participatory vision of open source software, peer-to-peer networks, and case studies such as Howard Dean’s 2004 bid for the Democrat Party nominee in the US Presidential election campaign (Trippi). Recent theorists note Alexander Hamilton’s tradition of civic activism (Barlow 178) which links contemporary bloggers with the Federalist Papers and early newspaper pamphlets. One unsurfaced assumption in these observations and correlations is that most bloggers will adopt a coherent political philosophy as informed citizens: a variation on Lockean utilitarianism, Rawlsian liberalism or Nader consumer activism. To date there is little discussion about how political philosophy could deepen CJ’s ‘self-image’: how to critically evaluate sources, audit and investigation processes, or strategies to deal with elites, deterrence and power. For example, although bloggers kept Valerie Plame’s ‘outing’ as a covert intelligence operative highly visible in the issues-attention cycle, it was agenda-setting media like The New York Times who the Bush Administration targeted to silence (Pearlstine). To be viable, CJ needs to evolve beyond a new media populism, perhaps into a constructivist model of agency, norms and social change (Finnemore). 4. Citizen Journalism as New Media Populism Several “precursor trends” foreshadowed CJ notably the mid-1990s interest in “cool-hunting” by new media analysts and subculture marketeers (Gibson; Gladwell). Whilst this audience focus waned with the 1995-2000 dotcom bubble it resurfaced in CJ and publisher Tim O’Reilly’s Web 2.0 vision. Thus, CJ might be viewed as new media populism that has flourished with the Web 2.0 boom. Yet if the boom becomes a macroeconomic bubble (Gross; Spar) then CJ could be written off as a “silver bullet” that ultimately failed to deliver on its promises (Brooks, Jr.). The reputations of uncritical proponents who adopted a “true believer” stance would also be damaged (Hoffer). This risk is evident if CJ is compared with a parallel trend that shares its audience focus and populist view: day traders and technical analysts who speculate on financial markets. This parallel trend provides an alternative discipline in which the populism surfaced in an earlier form (Carlile & Christensen 12). Fidelity’s Peter Lynch argues that stock pickers can use their Main Street knowledge to beat Wall Street by exploiting information asymmetries (Lynch & Rothchild). Yet Lynch’s examples came from the mid-1970s to early 1980s when indexed mutual fund strategies worked, before deregulation and macroeconomic volatility. A change in the Web 2.0 boom might similarly trigger a reconsideration of Citizen Journalism. Hedge fund maven Victor Niederhoffer contends that investors who rely on technical analysis are practicing a Comtean religion (Niederhoffer & Kenner 72-74) instead of Efficient Market Hypothesis traders who use statistical arbitrage to deal with ‘random walks’ or Behavioural Finance experts who build on Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman’s Prospect Theory (Kahneman & Tversky). Niederhoffer’s deeper point is that technical analysts’ belief that the “trend is your friend” is no match for the other schools, despite a mini-publishing industry and computer trading systems. There are also ontological and epistemological differences between the schools. Similarly, CJ proponents who adopt a ‘Professional Amateur’ or ‘Pro-Am’ stance (Leadbeater & Miller) may face a similar gulf when making comparisons with professional journalists and the production environments in media organisations. CJ also thrives as new media populism because of institutional vested interests. When media conglomerates cut back on cadetships and internships CJ might fill the market demand as one alternative. New media programs at New York University and others can use CJ to differentiate themselves from “hyperlocal” competitors (Christensen; Slywotzky; Christensen, Curtis & Horn). This transforms CJ from new media populism to new media institution. 5. Parallels: Event-driven & Civic Journalism For new media programs, CJ builds on two earlier traditions: the Event-driven journalism of crises like the 1991 Gulf War (Wark) and the Civic Journalism school that emerged in the 1960s social upheavals. Civic Journalism’s awareness of minorities and social issues provides the character ethic and political philosophy for many Citizen Journalists. Jay Rosen and others suggest that CJ is the next-generation heir to Civic Journalism, tracing a thread from the 1968 Chicago Democratic Convention to IndyMedia’s coverage of the 1999 “Battle in Seattle” (Rosen). Rosen’s observation could yield an interesting historiography or genealogy. Events such as the Southeast Asian tsunami on 26 December 2004 or Al Qaeda’s London bombings on 7 July 2005 are cited as examples of CJ as event-driven journalism and “pro-am collaboration” (Kolodzy 229-230). Having covered these events and Al Qaeda’s attacks on 11th September 2001, I have a slightly different view: this was more a variation on “first responder” status and handicam video footage that journalists have sourced for the past three decades when covering major disasters. This different view means that the “salience of categories” used to justify CJ and “pro-am collaboration” these events does not completely hold. Furthermore, when Citizen Journalism proponents tout Flickr and Wikipedia as models of real-time media they are building on a broader phenomenon that includes CNN’s Gulf War coverage and Bloomberg’s dominance of financial news (Loomis). 6. The Mergers & Acquisitions Scenario CJ proponents often express anxieties about the resilience of their outlets in the face of predatory venture capital firms who initiate Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) activities. Ironically, these venture capital firms have core competencies and expertise in the event-driven infrastructure and real-time media that CJ aspires to. Sequoia Capital and other venture capital firms have evaluative frameworks that likely surpass Carlile & Christensen in sophistication, and they exploit parallels, information asymmetries and market populism. Furthermore, although venture capital firms such as Union Street Ventures have funded Web 2.0 firms, they are absent from the explanations of some theorists, whose examples of Citizen Journalism and Web 2.0 success may be the result of survivorship bias. Thus, the venture capital market remains an untapped data source for researchers who want to evaluate the impact of CJ outlets and institutions. The M&A scenario further problematises CJ in several ways. First, CJ is framed as “oppositional” to traditional media, yet this may be used as a stratagem in a game theory framework with multiple stakeholders. Drexel Burnham Lambert’s financier Michael Milken used market populism to sell ‘high-yield’ or ‘junk’ bonds to investors whilst disrupting the Wall Street establishment in the late 1980s (Curtis) and CJ could fulfil a similar tactical purpose. Second, the M&A goal of some Web 2.0 firms could undermine the participatory goals of a site’s community if post-merger integration fails. Jason Calacanis’s sale of Weblogs, Inc to America Online in 2005 and MSNBC’s acquisition of Newsvine on 5 October 2007 (Newsvine) might be success stories. However, this raises issues of digital “property rights” if you contribute to a community that is then sold in an M&A transaction—an outcome closer to business process outsourcing. Third, media “buzz” can create an unrealistic vision when a CJ site fails to grow beyond its start-up phase. Backfence.com’s demise as a “hyperlocal” initiative (Caverly) is one cautionary event that recalls the 2000 dotcom crash. The M&A scenarios outlined above are market dystopias for CJ purists. The major lesson for CJ proponents is to include other market players in hypotheses about causation and correlation factors. 7. ‘Pro-Ams’ & Professional Journalism’s Crisis CJ emerged during a period when Professional Journalism faced a major crisis of ‘self-image’. The Demos report The Pro-Am Revolution (Leadbeater & Miller) popularised the notion of ‘professional amateurs’ which some CJ theorists adopt to strengthen their categorisation. In turn, this triggers a response from cultural theorists who fear bloggers are new media’s barbarians (Keen). I concede Leadbeater and Miller have identified an important category. However, how some CJ theorists then generalise from ‘Pro-Ams’ illustrates the danger of ‘weak’ theory referred to above. Leadbeater and Miller’s categorisation does not really include a counter-view on the strengths of professionals, as illustrated in humanistic consulting (Block), professional service firms (Maister; Maister, Green & Galford), and software development (McConnell). The signs of professionalism these authors mention include a commitment to learning and communal verification, mastery of a discipline and domain application, awareness of methodology creation, participation in mentoring, and cultivation of ethical awareness. Two key differences are discernment and quality of attention, as illustrated in how the legendary Hollywood film editor Walter Murch used Apple’s Final Cut Pro software to edit the 2003 film Cold Mountain (Koppelman). ‘Pro-Ams’ might not aspire to these criteria but Citizen Journalists shouldn’t throw out these standards, either. Doing so would be making the same mistake of overconfidence that technical analysts make against statistical arbitrageurs. Key processes—fact-checking, sub-editing and editorial decision-making—are invisible to the end-user, even if traceable in a blog or wiki publishing system, because of the judgments involved. One post-mortem insight from Assignment Zero was that these processes were vital to create the climate of authenticity and trust to sustain a Citizen Journalist community (Howe). CJ’s trouble with “objectivity” might also overlook some complexities, including the similarity of many bloggers to “noise traders” in financial markets and to op-ed columnists. Methodologies and reportage practices have evolved to deal with the objections that CJ proponents raise, from New Journalism’s radical subjectivity and creative non-fiction techniques (Wolfe & Johnson) to Precision Journalism that used descriptive statistics (Meyer). Finally, journalism frameworks could be updated with current research on how phenomenological awareness shapes our judgments and perceptions (Thompson). 8. Strategic Execution For me, one of CJ’s major weaknesses as a new media theory is its lack of “rich description” (Geertz) about the strategic execution of projects. As Disinfo.com site editor I encountered situations ranging from ‘denial of service’ attacks and spam to site migration, publishing systems that go offline, and ensuring an editorial consistency. Yet the messiness of these processes is missing from CJ theories and accounts. Theories that included this detail as “second-order interactions” (Carlile & Christensen 13) would offer a richer view of CJ. Many CJ and Web 2.0 projects fall into the categories of mini-projects, demonstration prototypes and start-ups, even when using a programming language such as Ajax or Ruby on Rails. Whilst the “bootstrap” process is a benefit, more longitudinal analysis and testing needs to occur, to ensure these projects are scalable and sustainable. For example, South Korea’s OhmyNews is cited as an exemplar that started with “727 citizen reporters and 4 editors” and now has “38,000 citizen reporters” and “a dozen editors” (Kolodzy 231). How does OhmyNews’s mix of hard and soft news change over time? Or, how does OhmyNews deal with a complex issue that might require major resources, such as security negotiations between North and South Korea? Such examples could do with further research. We need to go beyond “the vision thing” and look at the messiness of execution for deeper observations and counterintuitive correlations, to build new descriptive theories. 9. Future Research This essay argues that CJ needs re-evaluation. Its immediate legacy might be to splinter ‘journalism’ into micro-trends: Washington University’s Steve Boriss proclaims “citizen journalism is dead. Expert journalism is the future.” (Boriss; Mensching). The half-lives of such micro-trends demand new categorisations, which in turn prematurely feeds the theory-building cycle. Instead, future researchers could reinvigorate 21st century journalism if they ask deeper questions and return to the observation stage of building descriptive theories. In closing, below are some possible questions that future researchers might explore: Where are the “rich descriptions” of journalistic experience—“citizen”, “convergent”, “digital”, “Pro-Am” or otherwise in new media? How could practice-based approaches inform this research instead of relying on espoused theories-in-use? What new methodologies could be developed for CJ implementation? What role can the “heroic” individual reporter or editor have in “the swarm”? Do the claims about OhmyNews and other sites stand up to longitudinal observation? Are the theories used to justify Citizen Journalism’s normative stance (Rheingold; Surowiecki; Pesce) truly robust generalisations for strategic execution or do they reflect the biases of their creators? How could developers tap the conceptual dimensions of information technology innovation (Shasha) to create the next Facebook, MySpace or Wikipedia? References Argyris, Chris, and Donald Schon. Theory in Practice. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1976. Barlow, Aaron. The Rise of the Blogosphere. Westport, CN: Praeger Publishers, 2007. Block, Peter. Flawless Consulting. 2nd ed. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer, 2000. Boriss, Steve. “Citizen Journalism Is Dead. Expert Journalism Is the Future.” The Future of News. 28 Nov. 2007. 20 Feb. 2008 http://thefutureofnews.com/2007/11/28/citizen-journalism-is-dead- expert-journalism-is-the-future/>. Brooks, Jr., Frederick P. The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering. Rev. ed. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1995. Campbell, Vincent. Information Age Journalism: Journalism in an International Context. New York: Arnold, 2004. Carlile, Paul R., and Clayton M. Christensen. “The Cycles of Building Theory in Management Research.” Innosight working paper draft 6. 6 Jan. 2005. 19 Feb. 2008 http://www.innosight.com/documents/Theory%20Building.pdf>. Caverly, Doug. “Hyperlocal News Site Takes A Hit.” WebProNews.com 6 July 2007. 19 Feb. 2008 http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2007/07/06/hyperlocal-news- sites-take-a-hit>. Chenoweth, Neil. Virtual Murdoch: Reality Wars on the Information Superhighway. Sydney: Random House Australia, 2001. Christensen, Clayton M. The Innovator’s Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 1997. Christensen, Clayton M., Curtis Johnson, and Michael Horn. Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2008. Curtis, Adam. The Mayfair Set. London: British Broadcasting Corporation, 1999. Etherington, Kim. Becoming a Reflexive Researcher: Using Ourselves in Research. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2004. Festinger, Leon. A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1962. Feyerabend, Paul. Against Method. 3rd ed. London: Verso, 1993. Finnemore, Martha. National Interests in International Society. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1996. Geertz, Clifford. The Interpretation of Cultures. New York: Basic Books, 1973. Ghoshal, Sumantra. “Bad Management Theories Are Destroying Good Management Practices.” Academy of Management Learning & Education 4.1 (2005): 75-91. Gibson, William. Pattern Recognition. London: Viking, 2003. Gladwell, Malcolm. “The Cool-Hunt.” The New Yorker Magazine 17 March 1997. 20 Feb. 2008 http://www.gladwell.com/1997/1997_03_17_a_cool.htm>. Gross, Daniel. Pop! Why Bubbles Are Great for the Economy. New York: Collins, 2007. Hoffer, Eric. The True Believer. New York: Harper, 1951. Howe, Jeff. “Did Assignment Zero Fail? A Look Back, and Lessons Learned.” Wired News 16 July 2007. 19 Feb. 2008 http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/news/2007/07/assignment_ zero_final?currentPage=all>. Kahneman, Daniel, and Amos Tversky. Choices, Values and Frames. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2000. Keen, Andrew. The Cult of the Amateur. New York: Doubleday Currency, 2007. Khurana, Rakesh. From Higher Aims to Hired Hands. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 2007. Kolodzy, Janet. Convergence Journalism: Writing and Reporting across the News Media. Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield, 2006. Koppelman, Charles. Behind the Seen: How Walter Murch Edited Cold Mountain Using Apple’s Final Cut Pro and What This Means for Cinema. Upper Saddle River, NJ: New Rider, 2004. Leadbeater, Charles, and Paul Miller. “The Pro-Am Revolution”. London: Demos, 24 Nov. 2004. 19 Feb. 2008 http://www.demos.co.uk/publications/proameconomy>. Loomis, Carol J. “Bloomberg’s Money Machine.” Fortune 5 April 2007. 20 Feb. 2008 http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2007/04/16/ 8404302/index.htm>. Lynch, Peter, and John Rothchild. Beating the Street. Rev. ed. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994. Maister, David. True Professionalism. New York: The Free Press, 1997. Maister, David, Charles H. Green, and Robert M. Galford. The Trusted Advisor. New York: The Free Press, 2004. Mensching, Leah McBride. “Citizen Journalism on Its Way Out?” SFN Blog, 30 Nov. 2007. 20 Feb. 2008 http://www.sfnblog.com/index.php/2007/11/30/940-citizen-journalism- on-its-way-out>. Meyer, Philip. Precision Journalism. 4th ed. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2002. McConnell, Steve. Professional Software Development. Boston, MA: Addison-Wesley, 2004. Mintzberg, Henry. Managers Not MBAs. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler, 2004. Morgan, Gareth. Images of Organisation. Rev. ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2006. Newsvine. “Msnbc.com Acquires Newsvine.” 7 Oct. 2007. 20 Feb. 2008 http://blog.newsvine.com/_news/2007/10/07/1008889-msnbccom- acquires-newsvine>. Niederhoffer, Victor, and Laurel Kenner. Practical Speculation. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2003. Pearlstine, Norman. Off the Record: The Press, the Government, and the War over Anonymous Sources. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2007. Pesce, Mark D. “Mob Rules (The Law of Fives).” The Human Network 28 Sep. 2007. 20 Feb. 2008 http://blog.futurestreetconsulting.com/?p=39>. Rheingold, Howard. Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution. Cambridge MA: Basic Books, 2002. Rosen, Jay. What Are Journalists For? Princeton NJ: Yale UP, 2001. Shasha, Dennis Elliott. Out of Their Minds: The Lives and Discoveries of 15 Great Computer Scientists. New York: Copernicus, 1995. Slywotzky, Adrian. Value Migration: How to Think Several Moves Ahead of the Competition. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 1996. Smith, Steve. “The Self-Image of a Discipline: The Genealogy of International Relations Theory.” Eds. Steve Smith and Ken Booth. International Relations Theory Today. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 1995. 1-37. Spar, Debora L. Ruling the Waves: Cycles of Discovery, Chaos and Wealth from the Compass to the Internet. New York: Harcourt, 2001. Surowiecki, James. The Wisdom of Crowds. New York: Doubleday, 2004. Thompson, Evan. Mind in Life: Biology, Phenomenology, and the Sciences of Mind. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 2007. Trippi, Joe. The Revolution Will Not Be Televised. New York: ReganBooks, 2004. Underwood, Doug. When MBA’s Rule the Newsroom. New York: Columbia University Press, 1993. Wark, McKenzie. Virtual Geography: Living with Global Media Events. Bloomington IN: Indiana UP, 1994. Wolfe, Tom, and E.W. Johnson. The New Journalism. New York: Harper & Row, 1973. Citation reference for this article MLA Style Burns, Alex. "Select Issues with New Media Theories of Citizen Journalism." M/C Journal 10.6/11.1 (2008). echo date('d M. Y'); ?> <http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0804/10-burns.php>. APA Style Burns, A. (Apr. 2008) "Select Issues with New Media Theories of Citizen Journalism," M/C Journal, 10(6)/11(1). Retrieved echo date('d M. Y'); ?> from <http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0804/10-burns.php>.

“Journalists have to begin a new type of journalism, sometimes being the guide on the side of the civic conversation as well as the filter and gatekeeper.” (Kolodzy 218) “In many respects, citizen journalism is simply public journalism removed from the journalism profession.” (Barlow 181) 1. Citizen Journalism — The Latest Innovation? New Media theorists such as Dan Gillmor, Henry Jenkins, Jay Rosen and Jeff Howe have recently touted Citizen Journalism (CJ) as the latest innovation in 21st century journalism. “Participatory journalism” and “user-driven journalism” are other terms to describe CJ, which its proponents argue is a disruptive innovation (Christensen) to the agenda-setting media institutions, news values and “objective” reportage. In this essay I offer a “contrarian” view, informed by two perspectives: (1) a three-stage model of theory-building (Carlile & Christensen) to evaluate the claims made about CJ; and (2) self-reflexive research insights (Etherington) from editing the US-based news site Disinformation between November 1999 and February 2008. New media theories can potentially create “cognitive dissonance” (Festinger) when their explanations of CJ practices are compared with what actually happens (Feyerabend). First I summarise Carlile & Christensen’s model and the dangers of “bad theory” (Ghoshal). Next I consider several problems in new media theories about CJ: the notion of ‘citizen’, new media populism, parallels in event-driven and civic journalism, and mergers and acquisitions. Two ‘self-reflexive’ issues are considered: ‘pro-ams’ or ‘professional amateurs’ as a challenge to professional journalists, and CJ’s deployment in new media operations and production environments. Finally, some exploratory questions are offered for future researchers. 2. An Evaluative Framework for New Media Theories on Citizen Journalism Paul Carlile and Clayton M. Christensen’s model offers one framework with which to evaluate new media theories on CJ. This framework is used below to highlight select issues and gaps in CJ’s current frameworks and theories. Carlile & Christensen suggest that robust theory-building emerges via three stages: Descriptive, Categorisation and Normative (Carlile & Christensen). There are three sub-stages in Descriptive theory-building; namely, the observation of phenomena, inductive classification into schemas and taxonomies, and correlative relationships to develop models (Carlile & Christensen 2-5). Once causation is established, Normative theory evolves through deductive logic which is subject to Kuhnian paradigm shifts and Popperian falsifiability (Carlile & Christensen 6). Its proponents situate CJ as a Categorisation or new journalism agenda that poses a Normative challenged and Kuhnian paradigm shift to traditional journalism. Existing CJ theories jump from the Descriptive phase of observations like “smart mobs” in Japanese youth subcultures (Rheingold) to make broad claims for Categorisation such as that IndyMedia, blogs and wiki publishing systems as new media alternatives to traditional media. CJ theories then underpin normative beliefs, values and worldviews. Correlative relationships are also used to differentiate CJ from the demand side of microeconomic analysis, from the top-down editorial models of traditional media outlets, and to adopt a vanguard stance. To support this, CJ proponents cite research on emergent collective behaviour such as the “wisdom of crowds” hypothesis (Surowiecki) or peer-to-peer network “swarms” (Pesce) to provide scientific justification for their Normative theories. However, further evaluative research is needed for three reasons: the emergent collective behaviour hypothesis may not actually inform CJ practices, existing theories may have “correlation not cause” errors, and the link may be due to citation network effects between CJ theorists. Collectively, this research base also frames CJ as an “ought to” Categorisation and then proceeds to Normative theory-building (Carlile & Christensen 7). However, I argue below that this Categorisation may be premature: its observations and correlative relationships might reinforce a ‘weak’ Normative theory with limited generalisation. CJ proponents seem to imply that it can be applied anywhere and under any condition—a “statement of causality” that almost makes it a fad (Carlile & Christensen 8). CJ that relies on Classification and Normative claims will be problematic without a strong grounding in Descriptive observation. To understand what’s potentially at stake for CJ’s future consider the consider the parallel debate about curricula renewal for the Masters of Business Administration in the wake of high-profile corporate collapses such as Enron, Worldcom, HIH and OneTel. The MBA evolved as a sociological and institutional construct to justify management as a profession that is codified, differentiated and has entry barriers (Khurana). This process might partly explain the pushback that some media professionals have to CJ as one alternative. MBA programs faced criticism if they had student cohorts with little business know-how or experiential learning (Mintzberg). Enron’s collapse illustrated the ethical dilemmas and unintended consequences that occurred when “bad theories” were implemented (Ghoshal). Professional journalists are aware of this: MBA-educated managers challenged the “craft” tradition in the early 1980s (Underwood). This meant that journalism’s ‘self-image’ (Morgan; Smith) is intertwined with managerial anxieties about media conglomerates in highly competitive markets. Ironically, as noted below, Citizen Journalists who adopt a vanguard position vis-a-vis media professionals step into a more complex game with other players. However, current theories have a naïve idealism about CJ’s promise of normative social change in the face of Machiavellian agency in business, the media and politics. 3. Citizen Who? Who is the “citizen” in CJ? What is their self-awareness as a political agent? CJ proponents who use the ‘self-image’ of ‘citizen’ draw on observations from the participatory vision of open source software, peer-to-peer networks, and case studies such as Howard Dean’s 2004 bid for the Democrat Party nominee in the US Presidential election campaign (Trippi). Recent theorists note Alexander Hamilton’s tradition of civic activism (Barlow 178) which links contemporary bloggers with the Federalist Papers and early newspaper pamphlets. One unsurfaced assumption in these observations and correlations is that most bloggers will adopt a coherent political philosophy as informed citizens: a variation on Lockean utilitarianism, Rawlsian liberalism or Nader consumer activism. To date there is little discussion about how political philosophy could deepen CJ’s ‘self-image’: how to critically evaluate sources, audit and investigation processes, or strategies to deal with elites, deterrence and power. For example, although bloggers kept Valerie Plame’s ‘outing’ as a covert intelligence operative highly visible in the issues-attention cycle, it was agenda-setting media like The New York Times who the Bush Administration targeted to silence (Pearlstine). To be viable, CJ needs to evolve beyond a new media populism, perhaps into a constructivist model of agency, norms and social change (Finnemore). 4. Citizen Journalism as New Media Populism Several “precursor trends” foreshadowed CJ notably the mid-1990s interest in “cool-hunting” by new media analysts and subculture marketeers (Gibson; Gladwell). Whilst this audience focus waned with the 1995-2000 dotcom bubble it resurfaced in CJ and publisher Tim O’Reilly’s Web 2.0 vision. Thus, CJ might be viewed as new media populism that has flourished with the Web 2.0 boom. Yet if the boom becomes a macroeconomic bubble (Gross; Spar) then CJ could be written off as a “silver bullet” that ultimately failed to deliver on its promises (Brooks, Jr.). The reputations of uncritical proponents who adopted a “true believer” stance would also be damaged (Hoffer). This risk is evident if CJ is compared with a parallel trend that shares its audience focus and populist view: day traders and technical analysts who speculate on financial markets. This parallel trend provides an alternative discipline in which the populism surfaced in an earlier form (Carlile & Christensen 12). Fidelity’s Peter Lynch argues that stock pickers can use their Main Street knowledge to beat Wall Street by exploiting information asymmetries (Lynch & Rothchild). Yet Lynch’s examples came from the mid-1970s to early 1980s when indexed mutual fund strategies worked, before deregulation and macroeconomic volatility. A change in the Web 2.0 boom might similarly trigger a reconsideration of Citizen Journalism. Hedge fund maven Victor Niederhoffer contends that investors who rely on technical analysis are practicing a Comtean religion (Niederhoffer & Kenner 72-74) instead of Efficient Market Hypothesis traders who use statistical arbitrage to deal with ‘random walks’ or Behavioural Finance experts who build on Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman’s Prospect Theory (Kahneman & Tversky). Niederhoffer’s deeper point is that technical analysts’ belief that the “trend is your friend” is no match for the other schools, despite a mini-publishing industry and computer trading systems. There are also ontological and epistemological differences between the schools. Similarly, CJ proponents who adopt a ‘Professional Amateur’ or ‘Pro-Am’ stance (Leadbeater & Miller) may face a similar gulf when making comparisons with professional journalists and the production environments in media organisations. CJ also thrives as new media populism because of institutional vested interests. When media conglomerates cut back on cadetships and internships CJ might fill the market demand as one alternative. New media programs at New York University and others can use CJ to differentiate themselves from “hyperlocal” competitors (Christensen; Slywotzky; Christensen, Curtis & Horn). This transforms CJ from new media populism to new media institution. 5. Parallels: Event-driven & Civic Journalism For new media programs, CJ builds on two earlier traditions: the Event-driven journalism of crises like the 1991 Gulf War (Wark) and the Civic Journalism school that emerged in the 1960s social upheavals. Civic Journalism’s awareness of minorities and social issues provides the character ethic and political philosophy for many Citizen Journalists. Jay Rosen and others suggest that CJ is the next-generation heir to Civic Journalism, tracing a thread from the 1968 Chicago Democratic Convention to IndyMedia’s coverage of the 1999 “Battle in Seattle” (Rosen). Rosen’s observation could yield an interesting historiography or genealogy. Events such as the Southeast Asian tsunami on 26 December 2004 or Al Qaeda’s London bombings on 7 July 2005 are cited as examples of CJ as event-driven journalism and “pro-am collaboration” (Kolodzy 229-230). Having covered these events and Al Qaeda’s attacks on 11th September 2001, I have a slightly different view: this was more a variation on “first responder” status and handicam video footage that journalists have sourced for the past three decades when covering major disasters. This different view means that the “salience of categories” used to justify CJ and “pro-am collaboration” these events does not completely hold. Furthermore, when Citizen Journalism proponents tout Flickr and Wikipedia as models of real-time media they are building on a broader phenomenon that includes CNN’s Gulf War coverage and Bloomberg’s dominance of financial news (Loomis). 6. The Mergers & Acquisitions Scenario CJ proponents often express anxieties about the resilience of their outlets in the face of predatory venture capital firms who initiate Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) activities. Ironically, these venture capital firms have core competencies and expertise in the event-driven infrastructure and real-time media that CJ aspires to. Sequoia Capital and other venture capital firms have evaluative frameworks that likely surpass Carlile & Christensen in sophistication, and they exploit parallels, information asymmetries and market populism. Furthermore, although venture capital firms such as Union Street Ventures have funded Web 2.0 firms, they are absent from the explanations of some theorists, whose examples of Citizen Journalism and Web 2.0 success may be the result of survivorship bias. Thus, the venture capital market remains an untapped data source for researchers who want to evaluate the impact of CJ outlets and institutions. The M&A scenario further problematises CJ in several ways. First, CJ is framed as “oppositional” to traditional media, yet this may be used as a stratagem in a game theory framework with multiple stakeholders. Drexel Burnham Lambert’s financier Michael Milken used market populism to sell ‘high-yield’ or ‘junk’ bonds to investors whilst disrupting the Wall Street establishment in the late 1980s (Curtis) and CJ could fulfil a similar tactical purpose. Second, the M&A goal of some Web 2.0 firms could undermine the participatory goals of a site’s community if post-merger integration fails. Jason Calacanis’s sale of Weblogs, Inc to America Online in 2005 and MSNBC’s acquisition of Newsvine on 5 October 2007 (Newsvine) might be success stories. However, this raises issues of digital “property rights” if you contribute to a community that is then sold in an M&A transaction—an outcome closer to business process outsourcing. Third, media “buzz” can create an unrealistic vision when a CJ site fails to grow beyond its start-up phase. Backfence.com’s demise as a “hyperlocal” initiative (Caverly) is one cautionary event that recalls the 2000 dotcom crash. The M&A scenarios outlined above are market dystopias for CJ purists. The major lesson for CJ proponents is to include other market players in hypotheses about causation and correlation factors. 7. ‘Pro-Ams’ & Professional Journalism’s Crisis CJ emerged during a period when Professional Journalism faced a major crisis of ‘self-image’. The Demos report The Pro-Am Revolution (Leadbeater & Miller) popularised the notion of ‘professional amateurs’ which some CJ theorists adopt to strengthen their categorisation. In turn, this triggers a response from cultural theorists who fear bloggers are new media’s barbarians (Keen). I concede Leadbeater and Miller have identified an important category. However, how some CJ theorists then generalise from ‘Pro-Ams’ illustrates the danger of ‘weak’ theory referred to above. Leadbeater and Miller’s categorisation does not really include a counter-view on the strengths of professionals, as illustrated in humanistic consulting (Block), professional service firms (Maister; Maister, Green & Galford), and software development (McConnell). The signs of professionalism these authors mention include a commitment to learning and communal verification, mastery of a discipline and domain application, awareness of methodology creation, participation in mentoring, and cultivation of ethical awareness. Two key differences are discernment and quality of attention, as illustrated in how the legendary Hollywood film editor Walter Murch used Apple’s Final Cut Pro software to edit the 2003 film Cold Mountain (Koppelman). ‘Pro-Ams’ might not aspire to these criteria but Citizen Journalists shouldn’t throw out these standards, either. Doing so would be making the same mistake of overconfidence that technical analysts make against statistical arbitrageurs. Key processes—fact-checking, sub-editing and editorial decision-making—are invisible to the end-user, even if traceable in a blog or wiki publishing system, because of the judgments involved. One post-mortem insight from Assignment Zero was that these processes were vital to create the climate of authenticity and trust to sustain a Citizen Journalist community (Howe). CJ’s trouble with “objectivity” might also overlook some complexities, including the similarity of many bloggers to “noise traders” in financial markets and to op-ed columnists. Methodologies and reportage practices have evolved to deal with the objections that CJ proponents raise, from New Journalism’s radical subjectivity and creative non-fiction techniques (Wolfe & Johnson) to Precision Journalism that used descriptive statistics (Meyer). Finally, journalism frameworks could be updated with current research on how phenomenological awareness shapes our judgments and perceptions (Thompson). 8. Strategic Execution For me, one of CJ’s major weaknesses as a new media theory is its lack of “rich description” (Geertz) about the strategic execution of projects. As Disinfo.com site editor I encountered situations ranging from ‘denial of service’ attacks and spam to site migration, publishing systems that go offline, and ensuring an editorial consistency. Yet the messiness of these processes is missing from CJ theories and accounts. Theories that included this detail as “second-order interactions” (Carlile & Christensen 13) would offer a richer view of CJ. Many CJ and Web 2.0 projects fall into the categories of mini-projects, demonstration prototypes and start-ups, even when using a programming language such as Ajax or Ruby on Rails. Whilst the “bootstrap” process is a benefit, more longitudinal analysis and testing needs to occur, to ensure these projects are scalable and sustainable. For example, South Korea’s OhmyNews is cited as an exemplar that started with “727 citizen reporters and 4 editors” and now has “38,000 citizen reporters” and “a dozen editors” (Kolodzy 231). How does OhmyNews’s mix of hard and soft news change over time? Or, how does OhmyNews deal with a complex issue that might require major resources, such as security negotiations between North and South Korea? Such examples could do with further research. We need to go beyond “the vision thing” and look at the messiness of execution for deeper observations and counterintuitive correlations, to build new descriptive theories. 9. Future Research This essay argues that CJ needs re-evaluation. Its immediate legacy might be to splinter ‘journalism’ into micro-trends: Washington University’s Steve Boriss proclaims “citizen journalism is dead. Expert journalism is the future.” (Boriss; Mensching). The half-lives of such micro-trends demand new categorisations, which in turn prematurely feeds the theory-building cycle. Instead, future researchers could reinvigorate 21st century journalism if they ask deeper questions and return to the observation stage of building descriptive theories. In closing, below are some possible questions that future researchers might explore: Where are the “rich descriptions” of journalistic experience—“citizen”, “convergent”, “digital”, “Pro-Am” or otherwise in new media?How could practice-based approaches inform this research instead of relying on espoused theories-in-use?What new methodologies could be developed for CJ implementation?What role can the “heroic” individual reporter or editor have in “the swarm”?Do the claims about OhmyNews and other sites stand up to longitudinal observation?Are the theories used to justify Citizen Journalism’s normative stance (Rheingold; Surowiecki; Pesce) truly robust generalisations for strategic execution or do they reflect the biases of their creators?How could developers tap the conceptual dimensions of information technology innovation (Shasha) to create the next Facebook, MySpace or Wikipedia? References Argyris, Chris, and Donald Schon. Theory in Practice. 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