The effect of Cu,Zn and Fe chelates on the antioxidative status of thigh meat of broiler chickens

The studies aimed to verify the effect of Cu, Zn and Fe glycine chelate on the antioxidative status in the thigh meat of broiler chickens. The study assumption was that due to the antioxidative or prooxidative effect of Cu, Zn and Fe, these elements supplemented to chickens in an easily assimilable form would modify the antioxidative status of meat and those having a prooxidative effect could deteriorate the quality of meat. The experiment involved three hundred and fifty Ross 308 chickens divided into seven equipotent experimental groups. Over 42 days of the experiment, the chickens were administered Cu, Zn and Fe glycine chelates in an amount corresponding to 50% of the requirement (experimental factor I) or 25% of the requirement (experimental factor II). The level of oxidative stress indicators such as superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione, glutathione peroxidase and malondialdehyde was determined in the muscles and blood. The groups receiving Zn or Cu chelate showed statistically confirmed higher activity of superoxide dismutase, catalase, and a higher level of glutathione in comparison to the group receiving Fe chelate. In order to increase the antioxidative stability of thigh meat, it is sufficient that broiler chickens receive Zn or Cu in the form of glycine chelate in an amount covering 25% of their requirement of such minerals. On the other hand, the use of Fe glycine chelates decreased antioxidative stability due to an increase in the level of malondialdehyde, so it should be considered whether the administration of pro-oxidative Fe chelate to broilers is advisable.     

Regulating Near-Space Activities: Using the Precedent of the Exclusive Economic Zone as a Model?

Abstract

The deployment of high-altitude vehicles in near space with the purpose of providing Internet, communication, and other services represents the new frontier of aerospace activities. Near-space operations are attracting growing interest due to their mult-purpose nature and their anticipated high profitability. Despite such positive perceptions, near-space plans are, however, hampered by the uncertain international legal status of near space. Using the precedent of the exclusive economic zone (EEZ), this article suggests a new categorization of the near space as the exclusive utilization space (EUS) and a set of rules to manage its utilization.     

Characterisation of aerobically grown non-spore-forming bacteria from paper mill pulps containing recycled fibres

A total of 179 non-spore-forming bacteria aerobically growing on Nutrient Agar, Plate Count Agar or in specific enrichment conditions for salmonella, campylobacteria, listeria, yersinia or staphylococci, were isolated from 16 untreated paper mill pulps. After phenotypical screening the isolates were characterised by automated ribotyping and partial sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene. They could be divided into seven taxonomical classes representing 63 taxa (species): actinobacteria (11 species), bacilli (7), flavobacteria (3) alphaproteobacteria (10), betaproteobacteria (5), gammaproteobacteria (25) and sphingobacteria (2). Most of the gammaproteobacteria were enterobacteria, mainly species of the genera Enterobacter (7 species, 7 samples/3 mills) and Klebsiella (5 species, 6 samples/3 mills). Other commonly occurring bacteria were most closely related to Microbacterium barkeri (7 samples/3 mills), Cloacibacterium normanense (6 samples/2 mills), Pseudoxanthomonas taiwanensis (5 samples/2 mills) and Sphingobacterium composti (5 samples/1 mill). Sporadic isolates of Listeria innocua, L. monocytogenes, Enterococcus casseliflavus and Staphylococcus warneri were detected, from which only L. monocytogenes is considered to be a food pathogen. No isolates of the genera Campylobacter, Salmonella or Yersinia were detected. The detected bacteria may be harmful in process control, but the load of food pathogens with recycled fibres to paper machines is insignificant. Faecal contamination of the pulp samples was not indicated.     

A study of environmental conflict: the economic value of Grey Seals in southwest England

This paper reports an analysis of a typical case of negative bilateral externality – a situation in which two legitimate activities, fishing and wildlife conservation, each give rise to damages to the other party. The Cornish fishing industry believes that its annual profits are reduced by an estimated £100 000 because of the damage by seal populations to caught fish. About 80 individuals belonging to the Cornish Grey Seal population (of about 400 specimens) are killed as a by-catch of trawling. Thus, the status quo is clearly inefficient: seals are perceived to damage fish and fishermen definitely damage seals. The biological dynamics of the seal population is not absolutely clear, so that a precautionary approach requires that care should be taken to avoid the risk of damaging the population in an irreversible way. Moreover, public opinion considers seals to be a high value flagship species. One of the goals of any conflict resolution should be to capture the economic value of seal conservation – i.e. to convert conservation benefits into resource flows – and use at least part of it in order to create incentives for a more efficient allocation of resources. The authorities should invest in seal conservation (i.e. compensating fishermen) if the benefits deriving from conservation exceed the opportunity costs of conservation. Such a solution clearly requires that the conservation benefits be estimated. To investigate the economic value of seal conservation a contingent valuation study is carried out. A contingent valuation study utilises a questionnaire approach and part of the questionnaire seeks to elicit individuals' willingness to pay (WTP) for a change in the state of some good or asset, in this case seal conservation. Due to resource limitations, the sample size of those interviewed in the study reported is small, so that we cannot be extremely confident about the results. However, they are consistent with those derived from similar studies on flagship species. Results show a mean WTP for recreational use of seals of about £8 per person for the option of seeing seals in a specialised sanctuary for seals recovered from accidents, and closer to £9 for seeing seals in the wild. The annual non-use value of seals – i.e. value unassociated with actual viewing – was found to be £526 000 in the most conservative estimation, aggregated over the Seal Sanctuary visitors. This economic potential could be realised in several ways and used to compensate fishermen for changing fishing techniques, targets and fishing areas. Finally, we investigate the role the Seal Sanctuary is playing in this context and some policy suggestions are discussed.     

Habitat quality of estuarine nursery grounds: Integrating non-biological indicators and multilevel biological responses in Solea senegalensis

Estuaries are highly valuable ecosystems that provide various goods and services to society, such as food provision and supporting nursery habitats for various aquatic species. Estuarine habitat quality assessment is thus critical in managing both ecological and economic value. In this work, various biological and non-biological indicators of habitat quality in estuarine nursery areas were determined, encompassing local environmental conditions, chemical contamination, anthropogenic pressures, juvenile Solea senegalensis condition, biomarkers response to contamination and juvenile density. The various indicators provided an integrated view on habitat quality and their responses were broadly concordant. Nursery quality assessment based on anthropogenic pressure indicators and fish biomarker responses were very similar, signaling nursery areas with higher anthropogenic pressure in Tejo and Ria de Aveiro estuaries. Yet, favorable environmental conditions across all sites could have contributed to lessen the potential hazardous biological effects of exposure to anthropogenic stressors, resulting in soles’ fairly good condition and generally high juvenile density. Nevertheless, a mismatch between high juvenile density and high estuarine contribution to adult coastal populations was observed in areas with higher anthropogenic pressures. Although a causal relationship cannot be established, the results emphasize the need to fully understand how the estuarine period spent in estuaries and local processes determine the quantity and quality of juveniles exported to marine adult populations, which is critical to achieve the full potential of the fish production service of estuaries and coastal stock replenishment.     

长江经济带生态系统服务供需格局变化与关联性分析

生态系统服务持续供给是人类社会可持续发展的重要基础。随着社会经济发展和人类生活品质的提高,综合考虑生态系统服务供给与人类需求,并纳入自然资源管理实践对我国生态文明建设至关重要。然而,目前的研究大多集中于生态系统服务供给研究,针对跨区域尺度的生态系统服务供需研究仍较薄弱。以我国跨区域的长江经济带为例,采用生态系统服务供给指数(ESPI)和土地开发指数(LDI),定量测度了生态系统服务的供给和需求,构建了生态系统服务供需指数(ESSDI),分析了长江经济带生态系统服务供需格局的时空变化规律及其区域特征,并利用皮尔逊相关系数和回归分析方法,定量探究了长江经济带生态系统服务供需格局的关联性及其区域差异。研究结果表明:(1)2015年长江经济带的生态系统服务供需格局区域差异明显,总体上呈现西部盈余东部超载的供需格局,其中生态系统服务供需格局状况较好和状况好的区域面积比例较高,占长江经济带总面积的69.45%。(2)长江经济带生态系统服务供需格局空间失衡现象较为突出,长江经济带55.36%的GDP和31.41%的人口均集中在7%生态系统服务供需状况差的区域。2000—2015年期间,长江经济带实施了系列生态保护与修复工程,生态系统服务供需状况趋向变好,生态系统服务供需状况好的县域增加了43个,供需状况差的县域减少了58个;长江经济带上游和中游地区生态系统服务供需状况比下游地区提升幅度大。(3)长江经济带生态系统服务供给和需求整体上呈现负相关。生态系统服务的供需关系存在区域差异。在经济快速增长和土地集约开发的下游地区,生态系统服务供需负相关关系斜率较大。随着ESPI的变化,下游LDI的变化幅度大于欠发达的上游和中游地区。研究结果可为长江经济带生态系统管理和政策制定提供参考。     

长江经济带森林生态安全评价及时空演变研究

由于森林生态系统的安全关系到人类的生存与发展,因此本文以长江经济带1107个区县为研究对象,运用熵权法、ArcGIS和GeoDA软件、重心分析模型、空间相关分析来分析长江经济带森林生态安全指数（ESI）,结论如下：（1）森林状态指数中,权重最高的指标为森林火灾受灾率,其次为森林有害生物成灾率和林地面积比率;在森林压力指数中,权重最高的指标为政府林业投入强度,其次为年度造林比例和自然保护区占比。（2）从全域来看,森林ESI值长江上游 > 中游 > 下游,长江南岸高于北岸。长江经济带森林ESI值总体水平较低,但在2000-2015年间总体呈上升趋势。从各省看,云南省森林ESI值最高,上海市森林ESI值最低。在此15年间,湖南省森林ESI值提高幅度最大（19.77%）,江苏省提高幅度最小（0.76%）。（3）各支流流域森林ESI值排序：赣江 > 沅江 > 金沙江 > 乌江 > 湘江 > 汉江 > 嘉陵江 > 岷江。从2000-2015年,八大流域的森林ESI值总体呈上升趋势,其中湘江流域增长幅度最大（20.87%）,而金沙江流域增长幅度最小（3.6%）。（4）森林ESI值的重心先后经历了在从南往西、从西往东北和从东北往南等过程。（5）长江经济带森林ESI值有较为显著的集聚性,森林ESI值High-High集聚区域主要分布在四川省和云南省,Low-Low集聚区县主要分布在上海、江苏和安徽,其次在湖北江汉平原、四川成都平原较为集中。（6）基于以上分析,本文建议：①应注重森林火灾、病虫害防治、林业投资、植树造林等工作。②从全域看,生态修复的重点应放在长江下游。从支流流域来看,岷江、嘉陵江和汉江流域应重点加强森林修复工作。③应在上海、江苏、安徽等Low-Low集聚区域加强植树造林和退耕还林的力度,而在四川、云南、江西和浙江等High-High集聚区域适当发展木材加工和林下种植等产业。     

Effects of branched-chain amino acid supplement on knee peak torque and indicators of muscle damage following isokinetic exercise-induced delayed onset muscle soreness

[Purpose] This study aimed to investigate the effects of branched-chain amino acid (BCAA) supplement on delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) by analyzing the maximum muscle strength and indicators of muscle damage.[Methods] Twelve men with majors in physical education were assigned to the BCAA group and placebo group in a double-blinded design, and repeated measurements were conducted. DOMS was induced with an isokinetic exercise. Following BCAA administration, the changes in the knee extension peak torque, flexion peak torque, aspartate aminotransferase (AST), creatine kinase (CK), and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) concentrations were analyzed. The maximum knee muscle strength was measured at the baseline (pre-D0) following BCAA administration for 5 days before exercise (-D5, -4D, -3D, -2D, -1D). In contrast, the post-treatment measurements (D3) were recorded after BCAA administration for 3 days (post-D0, D1, D2). Blood samples were obtained before (pre-D0), immediately after (post-D0), 24 h (D1), 48 h (D2), and 72 h (D3) after the exercise to analyze the indicators of muscle strength. BCAA was administered twice daily for 8 days (5 days and 3 days before inducing DOMS and during the experimental period, respectively).[Results] There was no difference in the flexion peak torque between the groups. However, the BCAA group showed a significantly higher extension peak torque at D3 (second isokinetic exercise), compared to the placebo group (p<.05). There was no difference in AST changes between the groups. Nonetheless, the CK and LDH were significantly reduced in the BCAA group, compared to the placebo group. There was no correlation between the extension peak torque and flexion peak torque. However, the CK and LDH increased proportionately in DOMS. Moreover, their concentrations significantly increased with a decreasing peak torque (p<.01).[Conclusion] An exercise-induced DOMS results in a decrease in the peak torque and a proportional increase in the CK and LDH concentrations. Moreover, the administration of BCAA inhibits the reduction of the extension peak torque and elevation of CK and LDH concentrations. Therefore, BCAA might be administered as a supplement to maintain the muscle strength and prevent muscle damage during vigorous exercises that may induce DOMS in sports settings.     

Comparison of European and US biological indicators for ethylene oxide sterilization

Summary Biological indicators (BIs) are used to monitor ethylene oxide (EO) gas sterilization processes for medical devices. Several European and United States BIs for EO sterilization were evaluated for resistance according to both United States Pharmacopeia (USP) XXI and United Kingdom's (UK) tests for D-values. US BIs areB. subtilis var. niger spores on paper strips or disc carriers while European BIs use aluminum strips, quartz sand, or cotton yarn. Numerous BIs per run and runs per lot, as well as 2–3 different lots of BIs from each manufacturer, were examined. Both British and US BIs met their respective label claims for rates of inactivation when tested against British and USP EO test parameters, respectively. However, Danish BIs, on cotton yarn or quartz sand, were not inactivated following USP specifications during the exposure dwell times tested (600 mg L^–1 EO, 54°C, 60% RH, 0–110 min). The Danish BIs will require further testing in order for us to determine if theirB. subtilis spores are unusually resistant to EO or if the spore carrier substrates protect the spores from the sterilizing gas. In conclusion, the British and American BIs for EO sterilization are equivalent in resistance despite differences in carrier substrate, recovery conditions, calculation methods for D-values, and the labeled sterilization conditions for use.     

Assessment of welfare indicators in dairy farms offering pasture at differing levels

In terms of animal welfare, farming systems of dairy cows are perceived positively by consumers when compared to pigs or poultry. A main reason is that the majority of consumers associate dairy farming with pasture, which in turn they relate with benefits for animal health and welfare. However, holistic scientific assessments of the effects of pasturing on animal welfare are rare. Hence, it was the aim to study the animal welfare level in 61 German loose housing dairy farms by using the measures of the Welfare Quality® protocol for dairy cattle (WQP). Data were collected twice per farm at the end of the pasture season (July to October) and approximately 6 months later at the end of the barn season (December to April). Farms were classified based on the duration cows had access to pasture per day during the pasture season: group 1 (G1)>10 h; group 2 (G2) 6 to 10 h; group 3 (G3)<6 h and group 4 (G4) without pasture access. The average herd size was 129 Holstein-Friesian or Red-Holstein cows (range 58 to 527). In addition to WQP data, performance data were gathered from routine herd data recordings. The indicators were aggregated to criteria applying the scoring system of the WQP. G4 received lower scores at the first than at the second visit for the criterion absence of hunger, while there were no differences between visits in the other groups (P=0.58 – group×farm visit effect). All pasturing groups were scored better at the end of the pasture season than G4 for the criterion comfort around resting (P<0.01). Compared with G1 for both farm visits and G2 for the end of the barn season, G4 reached inferior scores for the criterion absence of injuries, including indicators such as hairless patches, lesions, and swellings and lameness. At both assessments G2 was scored higher than the other groups for the criterion absence of diseases (P=0.04). In conclusion, pasture access had positive effects only on selected welfare indicators, however, these effects were not maintained throughout the barn season.