Military nutrition: maintaining health and rebuilding injured tissue

Food and nutrition are fundamental to military capability. Historical examples demonstrate that a failure to supply adequate nutrition to armies inevitably leads to disaster; however, innovative measures to overcome difficulties in feeding reap benefits, and save lives. In barracks, UK Armed Forces are currently fed according to the relatively new Pay As You Dine policy, which has attracted criticism from some quarters. The recently introduced Multi-Climate Ration has been developed specifically to deal with issues arising from Iraq and the current conflict in Afghanistan. Severely wounded military personnel are likely to lose a significant amount of their muscle mass, in spite of the best medical care. Nutritional support is unable to prevent this, but can ameliorate the effects of the catabolic process. Measuring and quantifying nutritional status during critical illness is difficult. A consensus is beginning to emerge from studies investigating the effects of nutritional interventions on how, what and when to feed patients with critical illness. The Ministry of Defence is currently undertaking research to address specific concerns related to nutrition as well as seeking to promote healthy eating in military personnel.     

Growth, production and bioenergetics of brown trout in upland streams with contrasting riparian vegetation

1. A series of laboratory-based equations on trout growth and bioenergetics developed by J.M. Elliott were applied to data collected for brown trout ( Salmo trutta L.) under field conditions in Co. Mayo, Western Ireland. Fish were collected by electrofishing eight upland streams with contrasting riparian vegetation; grassland, open canopy and closed canopy deciduous.
2. Stream temperatures, one of the main influencing factors on fish growth and energetics, did not differ significantly between riparian types.
3. Observed growth rates were lower than the predicted maximum growth rates and were not influenced by riparian vegetation type. Growth ranged between 0.66% day⁻¹ for 0 + trout to 0.08% day⁻¹ for 2 + trout.
4. Production estimates showed no clear difference between riparian vegetation types over the growing season.
5. Fish densities and biomass tended to be greater in closed canopy streams particularly in summer.
6. Actual ration sizes calculated for trout were similar to the ration required for maintenance metabolism and were only 45–63% of the maximum potential rations. Although there was an ontogenetic increase in ration size with increasing fish age, the proportion of ration available for growth (i.e. the difference between actual and maintenance rations) did not differ between age classes but was greatest in summer. 1+ and 2+ trout show greatest ration available for growth in grassland streams.
7. Trout growth did not differ between riparian vegetation types but did vary seasonally with greatest attainment in summer. Growth was limited in the present study possibly due to combined effects of reduced prey available to fish and low stream temperatures reducing metabolic requirements. In such food limited systems, terrestrial invertebrate energy subsidies could have significant benefits to brown trout growth, production and bioenergetics.     

克雷伯氏菌在农业与环境治理上的应用

克雷伯氏菌属(Klebsiella spp.)是肠杆菌科的重要成员,在农业及环境污染物治理等方面都具有理论研究价值和较广的开发应用前景。对克雷伯氏菌属的几个主要重要菌种的主要鉴别特征以及克雷伯氏菌在提高植物对氮、磷和铁等营养物质的利用、生物防治和环境治理方面的研究与存在问题进行综述可为克雷伯氏菌的进一步研究和应用提供参考。     

Combination of legume-based herbage and total mixed ration (TMR) maintains intake and nutrient utilization of TMR and improves nitrogen utilization of herbage in heifers

Diets combining herbage and total mixed rations (TMR) are increasingly used in temperate regions for feeding ruminants, but little information is available regarding the effects on nutrient intake and digestion of this feeding management in beef cattle. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of combining TMR (10% CP and 13% ADF), and legume-based herbage (14% CP and 27% ADF) on intake, nutrient digestion, ruminal fermentation, microbial N flow and glucose and nitrogen metabolism in heifers. The experiment was a 3×3 Latin square design replicated three times; each period lasted 18 days (10 adaptation days and 8 measurement days). Nine cross-bred (Aberdeen Angus×Hereford) heifers (214±18 kg) fitted with permanent rumen catheters and housed in individual metabolic cages were assigned to one of three treatments: 24 h access to TMR (T), 24 h access to herbage (H) or combined diets with 18 h access to TMR and 6 h access to herbage (T+H). Data were evaluated using a mixed model. Animals fed T+H (TMR 71% and herbage 29%) diets tended to have a higher dry matter intake as a proportion of their BW than animals fed T. The T+H diet did not change ruminal fermentation (pH, N–NH₃ and volatile fatty acids) or the N metabolism relative to the T diet, but increased the glucagon concentration and altered glucose metabolism. Conversely, animals fed T+H had increased purine derivatives excretion, increased N use efficiency for microbial protein synthesis and decreased plasma urea and urinary N excretion relative to animals fed H diet. The use of combined diets led to consumption of nutrients similar to a TMR diet, without reducing nutrient use and could improve N utilization compared with the herbage-only diet.     

Estimation of the Consumption of Nekton and Plankton by the Minke Whale Balaenoptera acutorostrata

This is a review of the data available on the population subdivision and life cycle of the Minke whale, the most abundant whalebone whale in the World Ocean. Different methods of estimation and calculation of the rate of food consumption by this species, the latter including those developed for the Sea of Okhotsk, are compared.     

小鳞鱼箴的维持日粮与转换效率

1998年 8月在一个养虾场蓄水池利用网箱进行了小鳞鱼箴维持日粮与转换效率的研究 .小鳞鱼箴生长率(GR)与日粮 (DR)的关系可表示为GR =14 0 .37DR -2 4.0 3 ;食物转换效率和能量转换效率分别为 13 .96 %和16 .12 % .从生长率和特定生长率计算的小鳞鱼箴维持日粮分别为体重的 17.12 %和 2 0 .39% ,表明从生长率和特定生长率计算维持日粮可能会导致不同的结果 .当日粮水平低于 3 .30 %时 ,小鳞鱼箴生长表现异常 ,意味着它可能利用了网采浮游动物以外的其它食物源 .     

A gastric evacuation model for three predatory gadoids and implications of using pooled field data of stomach contents to estimate food rations

The general applicability of the square root model to describe gastric evacuation in predatory gadoids independently of meal size was verified through experiments on whiting Merlangius merlangus , saithe Pollachius virens and cod Gadus morhua fed different fish and crustacean prey. Gastric evacuation rate was related by a negative power function to energy density of fish prey over an extended range from 3·4 to 11·5 kJ g^-1 of the effector variable. Gastric evacuation of crustacean prey seemed to depend on the characteristics of their exoskeleton. Gastric evacuation of mixed meals composed of fish prey with different energy densities could be described as a function of the overall energy density. The evacuation rate of each of the prey could be described directly by their share of the stomach content. A full gastric evacuation model including predator size, temperature and prey energy density was established for whiting, saithe and cod. It was demonstrated that estimates of food rations might be severely biased by use of mean values for prey composition and total mass of stomach contents.     

Food and feeding of Aurelia aurita in Tokyo Bay with an analysis of stomach contents and a measurement of digestion times

In situ seasonal variations in stomach contents of Aurelia aurita (L.) in Tokyo Bay, Japan, were analyzed. Copepods, such as Oithona davisae Ferrari & Orsi were the predominant food items of A. aurita from June to November. The mean digestion time measured in incubation experiments was 0.95 h. Daily rations calculated using stomach content data and digestion times were 2.2–21.8 mg C ind^–1 corresponding to 0.58–5.56% of body carbon. The ingestion rate increased significantly with an increase in medusa size, although no significant relationship was found between medusa size and carbon specific daily ration. The zooplankton community in Tokyo Bay is characterized by the significant dominance of O. davisae and it is assumed that the prosperity of A. aurita is caused by the high abundance of the O. davisae population. It is suggested that a food chain comprised of microflagellates, cyclopoid copepods O. davisae, and A. aurita is the most significant one in Tokyo Bay and only a small portion of production is transferred to fish.     

四川岷山小麂的种群性比、社会结构和活动节律

小麂(Muntiacus reevesi)主要分布在东亚长江以南的地区,是我国分布范围最广的麂属物种.本研究基于四川省岷山山脉6个自然保护区2011-2020年的红外相机调查数据,共布设有效调查位点726个,完成75320个相机日的有效调查工作量;在其中133个相机位点上拍摄到小麂照片和视频20236份,独立探测190...