Effects of age and season on conception rate of Mediterranean Italian Dairy Buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) following oestrus synchronization and fixed-time artificial insemination     

Gabriel Otava  Stefano Squicciarini  Simona Marc  Tijana Suici  Gary William Onan  Ioan Hutu  Iuliu Torda  Calin Mircu 《Reproduction in domestic animals》2021,56(12):1511-1518

The objective of this project was to report the effects of season and age on conception rate amongst Italian Mediterranean Buffalo subjected to an Ovsynch/Resynch (O/R) reproductive management protocol. The study utilized nulliparous (heifers), primiparous buffalo cows (PBC) and multiparous buffalo cows (MBC). The primiparous and multiparous groups were subjected to the synchronization protocol throughout the entire year, but heifers were synchronized and inseminated only during the spring/summer seasons. The conception rate obtained following the OvSynch oestrus synchronization protocol, applied during spring, was 68.4% for heifers, 83.3% for PBC and 67.7% for MBC. The overall total conception rates following the complete O/R protocol were 84.27%, 94.4% and 79%. Conception rates achieved during summer were heifers 52%, PBC 47.2% and MBC 49%, whilst overall conception rates following the full O/R protocol were 72%, 69.8% and 58.2% respectively. In the autumn seasons, PBC conceived 58.9% and MBC 52.1% following initial Ovsynch, which improved to total overall conception rates of 87.5% and 78.7% following the full O/R protocol. Similarly, in the winter season, PBC experienced a conception rate of 47.5% following Ovsynch and 72.5% after a follow-up Resynch. MBC experienced 60.0% and 74.4% conception following Ovsynch and full O/R, respectively, during winter. Total conception rates during all seasons were quite acceptable following the O/R protocol. There was a significant decrease from spring to summer in conception rate for all parity groups, but heifers were not a severely affected as older buffalo cows. This finding agrees with that of other investigators indicating that heifer fertility is not as negatively impacted by long photoperiod and higher ambient temperature as that of older animals. The O/R protocol as utilized in this study is an effective means of reproductive management for dairy buffalo cows and is effective for improving fertility during out-of-season breeding.  相似文献   

Fingerprinting Hydrocarbons in a Contaminated Soil from an Italian Natural Reserve and Assessment of the Performance of a Low-Impact Bioremediation Approach     

Volpe  Angela  D’Arpa  Stefania  Del Moro  Guido  Rossetti  Simona  Tandoi  Valter  Uricchio  Vito Felice 《Water, air, and soil pollution》2012,223(4):1773-1782

An environmentally friendly procedure suitable to restore a protected area was evaluated at laboratory scale. Soil contaminated by high molecular weight (C > 10) aliphatic hydrocarbons and by chromium was withdrawn from the study site and a qualitative study of soil hydrocarbon components was first performed in order to assess the potential source of contamination. To this aim, a number of characteristic diagnostic ratios of hydrocarbon components were derived by processing chromatographic data, and were used as indicators for distinguishing anthropogenic from natural hydrocarbons. Then, the efficiency of landfarming for soil remediation was tested by comparing the effect of a few selected amendments and by monitoring the fate of chromium. Soil microbial abundance and activity were also evaluated. Results showed that soil hydrocarbons were mainly of anthropogenic origin and land treatment allowed effective degradation by native microbial populations even in the absence of amendments. The investigated procedures had no effect on the mobilisation of chromium that remained in its stable form of Cr(III). Conventional land treatment may therefore be an effective and safe procedure for the removal of hydrocarbons even in the presence of chromium, and may be applied to areas where low-impact procedures are strictly required.  相似文献   

Long-term experimental restoration in a calcareous grassland: Identifying the most effective restoration strategies     

Simona Maccherini  Elisa Santi 《Biological conservation》2012,146(1):123-135

Calcareous grasslands are among the most diverse habitats, supporting species-rich vegetation. Propagule limitation and availability of microsites for germination represent major constraints to the successful restoration of these grasslands. To date, little information is available on the effectiveness of seed addition and soil disturbance on the restoration success of encroached semi-natural calcareous grasslands. Here, we conducted a 1 year before – 9 year after control-impact (BACI) study aimed at testing the effect of the addition of seeds of native species and livestock grazing on calcareous grasslands. Each restoration measure and their combination differed in their impact on these communities and varied over time. Grazing had a significant, beneficial, impact on these communities, although the impact was species-specific. On average, grazed plots were characterized by a higher number of species and a lower vegetation cover. Nine years after treatment application, grazed site were dominated by Trifolium incarnatum subsp. molinerii, Xeranthemum cylindraceum, Orlaya grandiflora, Teucrium chamaedrys and Bromus erectus while ungrazed sites were dominated by B. erectus, X. cylindraceum, O. grandiflora and Prunus spinosa. Only 8 out of 34 species responded significantly to disturbance or/and disturbance and seed addition while 22 species were significantly affected by the sampling year and 18 by a blocking factor. The low recruitment from added seeds and the fact that seed addition is a time-and labor-consuming activity suggests that an adequate level of disturbance and natural regeneration represent the most cost-effective approach to the restoration of these calcareous grasslands.  相似文献   

Marine and Semi-Synthetic Hydroxysteroids as New Scaffolds for Pregnane X Receptor Modulation     

Valentina Sepe  Francesco Saverio Di Leva  Claudio D’Amore  Carmen Festa  Simona De Marino  Barbara Renga  Maria Valeria D’Auria  Ettore Novellino  Vittorio Limongelli  Lisette D’Souza  Mahesh Majik  Angela Zampella  Stefano Fiorucci 《Marine drugs》2014,12(6):3091-3115

In recent years many sterols with unusual structures and promising biological profiles have been identified from marine sources. Here we report the isolation of a series of 24-alkylated-hydroxysteroids from the soft coral Sinularia kavarattiensis, acting as pregnane X receptor (PXR) modulators. Starting from this scaffold a number of derivatives were prepared and evaluated for their ability to activate the PXR by assessing transactivation and quantifying gene expression. Our study reveals that ergost-5-en-3β-ol (4) induces PXR transactivation in HepG2 cells and stimulates the expression of the PXR target gene CYP3A4. To shed light on the molecular basis of the interaction between these ligands and PXR, we investigated, through docking simulations, the binding mechanism of the most potent compound of the series, 4, to the PXR. Our findings provide useful functional and structural information to guide further investigations and drug design.  相似文献   

Predominance of Dehalococcoides in the presence of different sulfate concentrations     

Iraklis Panagiotakis  Daniel Mamais  Marina Pantazidou  Simona Rossetti  Federico Aulenta  Valter Tandoi 《Water, air, and soil pollution》2014,225(1):1-14

Urban stormwater runoff is contaminated by nutrients that wash off of roadways, parking lots and lawns during storms. In-ground permeable filter systems that consist of carefully selected filter material have the potential to remove these nutrients from the run-off. In this paper, four filter materials, calcite, zeolite, sand and iron filings, were investigated using laboratory batch tests to evaluate their efficiency in the removal of nitrate and phosphate from the simulated stormwater at different initial concentrations under the same 24-h exposure time period. The range of removal for nitrate was from 39 % to 65 % for calcite, from 42 % to 77 % for zeolite, from 40 % to 70 % for sand, and from 74 % to 100 % for iron filings. The removal of phosphate ranged from 35 % to 41 % for calcite, 59 % to 100 % for zeolite, 49 % to 100 % for sand, and 73 % to 100 % for iron filings. The removal of nitrate is mainly attributed to electrostatic adsorption, except when iron filings were used as a filter material where additional processes such as electrochemical reduction, ligand complexation and precipitation may have contributed to the higher nitrate removal. Phosphate removal is also attributed to electrostatic adsorption in all filter materials; however, at higher phosphate concentrations, the precipitation process may be the dominant process for all of the filter materials except calcite. The Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms fitted the observed nonlinear adsorption results, but the mechanism of removal of phosphate changed from adsorption to precipitation at concentrations higher than 1 mg/l in zeolite, sand, and iron filings; therefore, the adsorption models are valid below this concentration limit. A typical application of these batch adsorption test results is presented in the design of a field in-ground permeable filter system.  相似文献   

TAF1 activates transcription by phosphorylation of serine 33 in histone H2B     

Maile T  Kwoczynski S  Katzenberger RJ  Wassarman DA  Sauer F 《Science (New York, N.Y.)》2004,304(5673):1010-1014

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Drape behaviour of seamed fabrics     

Simona Jevšnik  Darja Žunič-Lojen 《Fibers and Polymers》2007,8(5):550-557

Clothe drape depends, on the one hand, on the mechanical and constructional properties of the textile materials and, on the other hand, on the form — construction of the cloth, and their connected positions at the seams. This article analyses the influence of seam types and directions on fabric drape. The drape coefficient together with the number and distribution of folds were determined using a Cusick Drape meter with a video camera and Drape Analyser. The results of our investigation showed that the number of folds on the samples with seams was greater, or in some cases, equal to samples without seams. The distribution and form of the folds also changed. Drape coefficient was, in most cases, greater on samples with seams than samples without seams. Furthermore it was discovered that by measurement repetition the angle values are similar even when the folds on the samples are not distributed in the same manner.  相似文献   

Evaluation of behavioral reactions in pet dogs to human visual communicative signs     

Emanuela Dalla Costa  Simona Cannas  Michela Minero  Clara Palestrini 《Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research》2009,4(2):56-57

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Assessing the potential of marine Natura 2000 sites to produce ecosystem‐wide effects in rocky reefs: A case study from Sardinia Island (Italy)     

Paolo Guidetti  Piero Addis  Fabrizio Atzori  Simona Bussotti  Antonio Cal  Alessandro Cau  Jean‐Michel Culioli  Giuseppe De Lucia  Antonio Di Franco  Manfredi Di Lorenzo  Maria Cristina Follesa  Vittorio Gazale  Giorgio Massaro  Francesco Mura  Augusto Navone  David Pala  Pier Augusto Panzalis  Antonio Pusceddu  Alberto Ruiu  Angelo Cau 《水产资源保护:海洋与淡水生态系统》2019,29(4):537-545

Effects of dietary dehydrated lemon peel on some biochemical markers related to general metabolism,welfare and stress in gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata L.)     

Jos María García Beltrn  Cristbal Espinosa  Francisco A. Guardiola  Simona Manuguerra  Andrea Santulli  Concetta María Messina  María ngeles Esteban 《Aquaculture Research》2019,50(11):3181-3191

Dehydrated lemon peel (DLP) at two levels (1.5% and 3%) was included for 30 days in the diet of gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata L.) and after 15 and 30 days the serum and skin mucus of fish were analysed. In serum, both experimental diets led to an initial decrease in glucose and lactate after which the levels became comparable to the control. Dietary DLP modulated the activity of transaminases, alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase. The total antioxidant status showed a progressive increase in relation to levels of inclusion of DLP and time of administration (p < .05). In skin mucus, some biomolecular markers related to general stress, oxidative stress and apoptosis exhibited variations that suggest an adaptive response of fish to the new metabolic situation, resulting from the experimental diet. The inclusion of DLP in the diet seems to positively modulate the central metabolism and welfare of gilthead seabream.  相似文献