COW

This paper wants to investigate why Fereydūn’s mace was bull-headed. Since such weapon has a prominent role in our epics and it has been used by most of our heroes, it seems important to find its origin out.  To achieve this goal, there is a brief explanation about mace and all kinds of it in the texts of different periods in Iranian and some other Indo-European cultures. Then some mythological samples about the role of this weapon in Fereydūn’s stories will be offered to survey its role through Iranian mythologies from Avestan texts to the texts of the Islamic period. In order to clarify the discussion, further evidences from Indian mythologies, especially the Vedic ones, has been provided. Then, on the basis of similarities between the two cultures, there will be a suggestion to know why Fereydūn’s mace was bull-headed. It has been resulted, by analysis and comparison of existing evidences, that the background of Iranian Fereydūn and Indian Trita is probably the god of thunder who was born as a bull (or an ox) or it is somehow a metaphor of it. So, it can be said that Fereydūn’s bull-head mace is an indication of his relationship with the bull.

Objective. The aim of this study was to investigate the relation among type and size of the farms related to the management of production and especially the presence and control of parasites. Materials and methods. To accomplish the above, 65 farms were used: 56 of semi-extensive system (cows in pastures), classified as low density farms (n=15, up to 15/cows), medium density farms (n=20; between 16-30/cows) and large density farms (n=21; over 31/cows). It was also included nine farms
freestall system (n=9; confinement, over 70 cows) as part of the study population. Results. In the farms visited for the study can be noticed that the farms that had the higher level of technological improvement in managements practice were properties in high level (3) and freestall (4). In most of the farms there were observed the presence of ticks and flies, regardless of density of farms. Feces samples collected from 650 cows (n=10/farm), and analyzed using McMaster showed that 191 cows were positive for parasites. The presence of antibodies in bulk milk tank occurred in 36 (55.38%; CI95% 42-67) to Neospora caninum of the studied farms. Conclusions. We also conclude that N. caninum is present in cattle herds in Western Santa Catarina, and may be linked to reproductive problems in cows.

This research has been made to investigate the accessibility of the disabled people living in Ankara to the built environment and their problems and priorities with respect to participation to urban life and to what extent they can share urban life. The study made on the basis of a survey covers visually-impaired and walking-impaired people as well as those dependent on wheelchairs. The evaluations have provided information relevant to the problems that the disabled people face with respect to accessibility to the built environment, their usage of the built environment and participation to social life and their priorities in this respect. Findings of the research show that the disabled people face many physical barriers in accessing the built environment, that the barriers existing in the urban environment limit the individual's independent movement on his/her own and that this hinders disabled people's social communication and causes them feel excluded. It is expected tha...

Morphological studies of live connective tissue cells are imperative to helping understand cellular responses to mechanical stimuli. However, photobleaching is a constant problem to accurate and reliable live cell fluorescent imaging, and various image thresholding methods have been adopted to account for photobleaching effects. Previous studies showed that dual photon excitation (DPE) techniques are superior over conventional one photon excitation (OPE) confocal techniques in minimizing photobleaching. In this study, we investigated the effects of photobleaching resulting from OPE and DPE on morphology of in situ articular cartilage chondrocytes across repeat laser exposures. Additionally, we compared the effectiveness of three commonly-used image thresholding methods in accounting for photobleaching effects, with and without tissue loading through compression. In general, photobleaching leads to an apparent volume reduction for subsequent image scans. Performing seven consecutive scans of chondrocytes in unloaded cartilage, we found that the apparent cell volume loss caused by DPE microscopy is much smaller than that observed using OPE microscopy. Applying scan-specific image thresholds did not prevent the photobleaching-induced volume loss, and volume reductions were non-uniform over the seven repeat scans. During cartilage loading through compression, cell fluorescence increased and, depending on the thresholding method used, led to different volume changes. Therefore, different conclusions on cell volume changes may be drawn during tissue compression, depending on the image thresholding methods used. In conclusion, our findings confirm that photobleaching directly affects cell morphology measurements, and that DPE causes less photobleaching artifacts than OPE for uncompressed cells. When cells are compressed during tissue loading, a complicated interplay between photobleaching effects and compression-induced fluorescence increase may lead to interpretations in cell responses to mechanical stimuli that depend on the microscopic approach and the thresholding methods used and may result in contradictory interpretations. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23849134
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0021929013002716

The fate of DNA and protein transgenic sequences in products derived from animals fed transgenic crops has recently raised public interest. Sensitive molecular tests targeting the Bt176 genetic construct and the transgenic Cry1Ab protein were developed to determine whether plant sequences, especially transgenic sequences, are present in animal products. A protocol for total DNA extraction and purification from cow whole blood samples was first drawn up and assessed by spiking with known amounts of DNA from Bt176 maize. The limit of detection for transgenic sequences (35S promoter and Bt176-specific junction sequence) was determined by both the polymerase chain reaction-enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (PCR-ELISA) and the 5'-nuclease PCR assay. Four additional PCR systems were built to substantiate the results. The first detects a mono-copy maize-specific sequence (ADH promoter). Two others target multi-copy sequences from plant nucleus (26S rRNA gene) and chloroplast (psaB gene). The last one, used as a positive control, targets a mono-copy animal sequence (alpha(s1)-casein gene). Both methods detected a minimum spiking at 25 copies of Bt176 maize/mL in 10 mL whole blood samples. The sandwich ELISA kit used detected down to 1 ng transgenic Cry1Ab protein/mL spiked whole blood.

The study was conducted to establish the presence of Campylobacter species, determine its prevalence and assess some of the epidemiological variables such as breed and season in the distribution of Campylobacter species in raw cow milk in the state. During October, 2007 and September, 2008, a total of 146 raw milk samples were collected from lactating cows in selected dairy herds in the state. The samples were processed for Campylobacter isolations by inoculating in Preston Enrichment broth and incubated for 48h at 37oC, and subsequently spread-plated on mCCDA incubated at 42oC for 48 h microaerobically. The colonies were subjected to oxidase reaction, hippurate hydrolysis and sensitivity to nalidixic acid and cephalothin for identification. The identified isolates were biotyped using the new extended scheme of Lior. Only 7(4.8%) of the samples were positive and all the positive isolates were identified as C. jejuni and C. jejuni biotype I. The white Fulani breed of cattle had the h...

Biogas is an alternative energy in the form of methane (CH4) which can be used as a fuel. It is formed from the decomposition of organic material through an anaerobic fermentation process carried out by anaerobic bacteria. Temperature is one of the important factors that influence the fermentation process. This study aims to determine the effectiveness of the C/N ratio in producing biogas under thermophilic conditions (55ºC) with variations in the ratio of C/N. Meanwhile, the C/N ratio used was 30, 35, 40, and the substrate without a change in the C/N ratio, respectively. This study uses glucose and ammonium sulfate to regulates the C/N ratio, where glucose has a function to increase carbon while ammonium sulfate is used to increase nitrogen. The results of this study conducted for 30 days revealed that the substrate with C/N ratio 35 and 40 with the addition of glucose has the highest biogas production volume. Production of biogas volume for C/N 30 substrate ratio has the lowest yield. The production of biogas in a thermophilic process has been shown to produce a higher volume of biogas than the mesophilic process with the same C/N ratio.