The effects of magnitude of calcium decline at the onset of lactation on serotonin dynamics and the serotonin-calcium axis.

The onset of lactation is characterized by marked increases in calcium (Ca) metabolism. Recently emphasis was placed on understanding the profile and dynamics of blood Ca and serotonin in the peripartal cow in response to this change using a randomized 2x2 factorial design. The aims of our study were to determine i) how a prepartum dietary cation anion difference (DCAD) diet and the magnitude of Ca decline at the onset of lactation alter circulating blood serotonin and iCa concentrations dynamics in the periparturient cow, and ii) the relationship Ca versus serotonin during the peripartal period.

Anti-oppression as praxis in the research field: Implementing emancipatory approaches for researchers and community partners.

Equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) and anti-oppression (AO) policies are implemented in research to address intersecting systemic barriers for marginalized populations. Grant applications now include questions about EDI to ensure researchers have considered how research designs perpetuate discriminatory practices. However, complying with these measures may not mean that researchers have engaged with AO as praxis.

"These Conversations Shouldn't be Easy … You're Going to Have to Shift. It Means Reflection … It Means Change": Moving Anti-Oppression Beyond Incremental Changes in the GBV Sector.

Little is known about racialized women's work experiences in EDI/AO policy-led Canadian women's organizations in the gender-based violence (GBV) sector. Twenty-three racialized and white GBV workers participated in a critical qualitative study. Five themes emerged illustrating that racialized women workers are experiencing systemic violence through acts of racism and discrimination.

The Brief Solastalgia Scale: A Psychometric Evaluation and Revision.

Witnessing degradation and loss to one's home environment can cause the negative emotional experience of solastalgia. We review the psychometric properties of the 9-item Solastalgia subscale from the Environmental Distress Scale (Higginbotham et al. (EcoHealth 3:245-254, 2006)).

Physical and Mental Health Effects of Bushfire and Smoke in the Australian Capital Territory 2019-20.

The 2019-20 bushfire season in south-eastern Australia was one of the most severe in recorded history. Bushfire smoke-related air pollution reached hazardous levels in major metropolitan areas, including the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), for prolonged periods of time. Bushfire smoke directly challenges human health through effects on respiratory and cardiac function, but can also indirectly affect health, wellbeing and quality of life.

Sex as Boys' Fame, But Girls' Shame: Adversarial Adolescent Gender Roles and Gender-based Violence in Guyana.

Gender-based violence (GBV) is a significant issue for youth in Guyana, particularly among young women. Yet, discussions about sex, dating, and violence rarely occur at the community level. To understand the heightened risk for GBV with youth in Guyana, we utilized a critical qualitative design to explore adolescent dating violence with adolescents (14-16 years old), parents, and school officials in a public secondary school in Guyana.

Associations between bone and energy metabolism in cows fed diets differing in level of dietary cation-anion difference and supplemented with cholecalciferol or calcidiol.

Bone-derived hormones play an important role in metabolism. This study examined the hypothesis that interactions between bone and energy metabolism, particularly those involving osteocalcin, are present in dairy cattle and have feedback mechanisms over time. Associations between metabolites in blood were examined in 32 Holstein cows blocked by parity and milk yield and randomly allocated to diets containing either 0.

Effects of nutrition on the fertility of lactating dairy cattle.

This meta-analysis of 39 experiments containing 118 treatments explored the effects of diet interventions in early lactation on the proportion of dairy cows pregnant to artificial insemination (AI; pregnancy to AI) and on calving to pregnancy interval. It also identified factors that may explain variation in these responses. The objectives were to identify effects of diet on reproduction, rather than differences between specific dietary interventions.

Effects of prepartum dietary cation-anion difference and source of vitamin D in dairy cows: Health and reproductive responses.

The objectives of the experiment were to evaluate the effects of feeding diets with distinct dietary cation-anion difference (DCAD) levels and supplemented with 2 sources of vitamin D during the prepartum transition period on postpartum health and reproduction in dairy cows. The hypotheses were that feeding acidogenic diets prepartum would reduce the risk of hypocalcemia and other diseases, and the benefits of a negative DCAD treatment on health would be potentiated by supplementing calcidiol compared with cholecalciferol. Cows at 252 d of gestation were blocked by parity (28 nulliparous and 52 parous cows) and milk yield within parous cows, and randomly assigned to 1 of 4 treatments arranged as a 2 × 2 factorial, with 2 levels of DCAD, positive (+130 mEq/kg) or negative (-130 mEq/kg), and 2 sources of vitamin D, cholecalciferol or calcidiol, fed at 3 mg for each 11 kg of diet dry matter.

Effects of prepartum dietary cation-anion difference and source of vitamin D in dairy cows: Vitamin D, mineral, and bone metabolism.

Pregnant Holstein cows, 28 nulliparous and 51 parous, were blocked by parity and milk yield and randomly allocated to receive diets that differed in dietary cation-anion difference (DCAD), +130 or -130 mEq/kg, and supplemented with either calcidiol or cholecalciferol at 3 mg/11 kg of dry matter from 255 d of gestation until parturition. Blood was sampled thrice weekly prepartum, and on d 0, 1, 2, 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, 27, and 30 postpartum to evaluate effects of the diets on vitamin D, mineral and bone metabolism, and acid-base status. Blood pH and concentrations of minerals, vitamin D metabolites, and bone-related hormones were determined, as were mineral concentrations and losses in urine and colostrum.

Effects of prepartum dietary cation-anion difference and source of vitamin D in dairy cows: Lactation performance and energy metabolism.

The objectives of this experiment were to evaluate the effects of feeding diets with 2 dietary cation-anion difference (DCAD) levels and supplemented with either cholecalciferol (CH) or calcidiol (CA) during late gestation on lactation performance and energetic metabolism in dairy cows. The hypothesis was that combining a prepartum acidogenic diet with calcidiol supplementation would benefit peripartum Ca metabolism and, thus, improve energy metabolism and lactation performance compared with cows fed an alkalogenic diet or cholecalciferol. Holstein cows at 252 d of gestation were blocked by parity (28 nulliparous and 51 parous cows) and milk yield within parous cows, and randomly assigned to 1 of 4 treatments arranged as a 2 × 2 factorial, with 2 levels of DCAD (positive, +130, and negative, -130 mEq/kg) and 2 sources of vitamin D, CH or CA, fed at 3 mg per 11 kg of diet dry matter (DM).

Decolonization in health professions education: reflections on teaching through a transgressive pedagogy.

Background: Canadian health educators travel to the global south to provide expertise in health education. Considering the history of relations between the north and south, educators and healthcare providers from Canada should critically examine their practices and consider non-colonizing ways to relate to their Southern colleagues.

Methods: Using her experience as a teacher with the Toronto Addis Ababa Academic Collaboration in Nursing, the author explored issues of identity and representation as a registered nurse and PhD candidate teaching in Ethiopia.

Affordable Care Act Qualified Health Plan Enrollment for AIDS Drug Assistance Program Clients: Virginia's Experience and Best Practices.

With the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2014, many safety net resources, including state AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAPs), incorporated ACA Qualified Health Plans (QHPs) into their healthcare delivery model. This article highlights the benefits of the ACA for persons living with HIV. It also describes the range of strategies employed by state ADAPs to enroll patients in QHPs.

Precalving and early lactation factors that predict milk casein and fertility in the transition dairy cow.

Multiparous Holstein cows (n=82) of either high or low genetic merit (GM) (for milk fat + protein yield) were allocated to 1 of 2 diets in a 2×2 factorial design. Diets differed in the ratio of rumen-undegradable protein (RUP) to rumen-degradable protein (37% RUP vs. 15% RUP) and were fed from 21 d precalving to 150 days in milk.

Papain and its inhibitor E-64 reduce camelid semen viscosity without impairing sperm function and improve post-thaw motility rates.

In camelids, the development of assisted reproductive technologies is impaired by the viscous nature of the semen. The protease papain has shown promise in reducing viscosity, although its effect on sperm integrity is unknown. The present study determined the optimal papain concentration and exposure time to reduce seminal plasma viscosity and investigated the effect of papain and its inhibitor E-64 on sperm function and cryopreservation in alpacas.

Effects of dietary fat on fertility of dairy cattle: A meta-analysis and meta-regression.

Evidence is increasing of positive effects of feeding fats during transition on fertility and the adaptation to lactation. This study used meta-analytic methods to explore the effects of including fats in the transition diet on the risk of pregnancy to service (proportion pregnant) and calving to pregnancy interval. Meta-analysis was used to integrate smaller studies and increase the statistical power over that of any single study and explore new hypotheses.

HIV testing among youth in a high-risk city: prevalence, predictors, and gender differences.

While HIV is prevalent among adolescents and young adults, testing levels remain low and little is known about gender differences in HIV testing. The objectives of this study were to describe the prevalence of past-year HIV testing and evaluate associations between HIV testing and individual- and partner-level factors by gender among heterosexually experienced youth (15-24 years) in Baltimore, Maryland (N = 352). Past-year HIV testing was prevalent (60.

Efficacy and safety of coadministration of ezetimibe and simvastatin in African-American patients with primary hypercholesterolemia.

The purpose of this study was to examine the efficacy and safety of ezetimibe (EZE) coadministered with simvastatin (SIMVA) in a large cohort of African Americans with primary hypercholesterolemia. In a multicenter, randomized, double-blind study, patients were considered eligible for enrollment if after a washout/placebo run-in period, low-density-lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol level was > or = 145 and < or = 250 mg/dl and triglyceride level was < or = 350 mg/dl. Eligible patients were randomized to SIMVA 20 mg coadministered with either EZE 10 mg (n = 124) or placebo (n = 123) for 12 weeks.

Enzyme-catalyzed polycondensation reactions for the synthesis of aromatic polycarbonates and polyesters.

Aromatic polymers are widely used in products ranging from optical lenses to milk bottles because of their strength, thermal durability, and high glass transition temperatures. All of the commonly used routes employed to generate aromatic polycarbonates and polyesters generate large amounts of waste as by-products and require high energy input. For these reasons, alternate routes to aromatic polymers which involve either less energy input or less waste generation are being investigated.

Enzymatic synthesis of carbonate monomers and polycarbonates.

Diphenyl carbonate is an attractive monomer for copolymerization with Bisphenol-A to produce the strong, high melting polycarbonate, Bisphenol-A Polycarbonate. Diphenyl carbonate is an ideal candidate for this polymerization as the phenols constitute good leaving groups during polymerization. Industrially, diphenyl carbonate is produced via the phosgenation of a phenolic sodium salt.

Assessment of cardiac function by three-dimensional echocardiography compared with conventional noninvasive methods.

Background: Reliable, serial, noninvasive quantitative estimation of left ventricular ejection fraction is essential for selecting and timing therapeutic interventions in patients with heart disease. Equilibrium radionuclide angiography is widely used for this purpose but has well-recognized limitations. Advantages of echocardiography over equilibrium radionuclide angiography include assessment of wall motion, valvular pathology, and cardiac hemodynamics, in addition to portability, lack of radiation exposure, and substantially lower cost.

Thallium-201 lung uptake and peak treadmill exercise first-pass ejection fraction.

Increased thallium-201 lung uptake immediately after exercise has been shown (1) to be a marker for extensive coronary artery disease, (2) to correlate with low rest and exercise left ventricular ejection fraction by supine gated blood pool scintigraphy, and (3) to be a powerful independent predictor of future cardiac events. Exercise left ventricular ejection fraction measured during upright exercise by the first-pass technique has also been shown to be a powerful independent prognostic variable. Combined perfusion and exercise left ventricular ejection fraction can be acquired by using the technetium 99m-based myocardial perfusion agents and offers an alternative protocol to stress/redistribution thallium imaging.