Genomic imprinting and environmental epigenetics: Their influence on sheep reproductive traits across parities.

This study aimed to explore the impact of genomic imprinting on the genetic variance of composite reproductive traits across three parities in Baluchi sheep. The traits analyzed included litter mean weight per lamb born (LMWLB), litter mean weight per lamb weaned (LMWLW), total litter weight at birth (TLWB), and total litter weight at weaning (TLWW). We employed a univariate linear animal model for each trait, treating performance across parities as separate traits.

Investigating the Performance of Frequentist and Bayesian Techniques in Genomic Evaluation.

The genomic evaluation process relies on the assumption of linkage disequilibrium between dense single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers at the genome level and quantitative trait loci (QTL). The present study was conducted with the aim of evaluating four frequentist methods including Ridge Regression, Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO), Elastic Net, and Genomic Best Linear Unbiased Prediction (GBLUP) and five Bayesian methods including Bayes Ridge Regression (BRR), Bayes A, Bayesian LASSO, Bayes C, and Bayes B, in genomic selection using simulation data. The difference between prediction accuracy was assessed in pairs based on statistical significance (p-value) (i.

Sex-specific genetic parameter estimates of body weight in Mazandaran indigenous chickens.

Body weight is an economically important trait in poultry that shows sexual dimorphism (SD). In the present study, variation in SD in Mazandaran native chickens was investigated in terms of the (Co) variance components and genetic parameters of body weight between males and females. Studied traits were body weights at hatch (BW1), 8 weeks (BW8) and 12 weeks of age (BW12).

Autosomal and Z-linked genetic evaluation for body weight in Mazandaran native chicken using different models for dosage compensation on the Z chromosome.

The objectives of this study were to assess the autosomal and sex-linked genetic inheritance of growth traits and identify the effective dosage compensation on the Z chromosome in Mazandaran native chickens. The data included body weights at hatching (BW0), 8 weeks (BW8) and 12 weeks (BW12) of age, related to the first 21 generations of selection, were collected from Mazandaran native chicken breeding centre. The fixed effects included sex of birds in two classes, hatch in five classes and generation in 21 classes.

Quantifying the effect of inbreeding on average daily gain and Kleiber ratio in Mazandaran native chickens.

The aims of this study was to evaluate inbreeding effects for growth rate (average daily gain from hatch to 8 weeks of age (ADG1-8), average daily gain from hatch to 12 weeks of age (ADG1-12), average daily gain from 8 weeks of age to 12 weeks (ADG8-12), average daily gain from hatch to sex maturity (ADG1-SM), average daily gain from 8 weeks of age to sex maturity (ADG8-SM), average daily gain from 12 weeks to sex maturity (ADG12-SM), and Kleiber ratios (KR1-8, KR1-12, KR8-12) in Mazandaran native chickens. The data set of 82,446 pedigreed individuals over 21 generations was analyzed. All individuals were grouped into three classes based on the inbreeding coefficient: First class contained non-inbred birds (F = 0) and second and third classes contained inbred individuals (0 < F ≤ 5% and F > 5%, respectively).

Comparison of parametric, semiparametric and nonparametric methods in genomic evaluation.

Access to dense panels of molecular markers has facilitated genomic selection in animal breeding. The purpose of this study was to compare the nonparametric (random forest and support vector machine), semiparametric reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces (RKHS), and parametric methods (ridge regression and Bayes A) in prediction of genomic breeding values for traits with different genetic architecture. The predictive performance of different methods was compared in different combinations of distribution of QTL effects (normal and uniform), two levels of QTL numbers (50 and 200), three levels of heritability (0.

N-acetylcysteine add-on treatment in refractory obsessive-compulsive disorder: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of N-acetylcysteine, a glutamate-modulating agent, in patients with treatment-refractory obsessive-compulsive disorder as an adjunct to serotonin reuptake inhibitor treatment.

Methods: Forty-eight patients (36 women; mean ± SD age, 30.93 ± 4.