Relationships among the cervical mucus urea and acetone, accuracy of insemination timing, and sperm survival in Holstein cows.

The objectives of this study were to evaluate the relationships among urea and acetone content in cows' cervical mucus (CM), its crystallization type (CT) and sperm survival (SS) after timed AI. Samples of CM were collected from 192 Holstein cows treated by Ovsynch(®) protocol. Analysis of the urea and acetone content for identification of the metabolic status, the arborization test for evaluation of insemination timing and the short-term heat test of SS for assessment of its suitability as a biological matrix were performed.

A genome-wide association scan in pig identifies novel regions associated with feed efficiency trait.

Feed conversion ratio (FCR) is an economically important trait in pigs, and feed accounts for a significant proportion of the costs involved in pig production. In this study we used a high-density SNP chip panel, Porcine SNP60 BeadChip, to identify the association between FCR and SNP markers and to study the genetic architecture of the trait. After quality control, a total of 30,847 SNP that could be mapped to the 18 porcine autosomes (SSC) using the pig genome assembly 10.

Combined biodifferentiating and antiangiogenic oral metronomic therapy is feasible and effective in relapsed solid tumors in children: single-center pilot study.

Background: To outline an outpatient-based treatment for children with relapsed solid tumors, who already have been extensively pretreated, we defined a 4-drug protocol named COMBAT (combined oral maintenance biodifferentiating and antiangiogenic therapy). Using this protocol, we performed a pilot study to determine its feasibility in children with relapsed and/or high-risk pediatric solid tumors.

Patients And Methods: 22 children received the COMBAT protocol.

High-dose methotrexate and/or leucovorin rescue for the treatment of children with lymphoblastic malignancies: do we really know why, when and how?

Methotrexate (MTX) remains a mainstay in the treatment of children with hematological malignancies. The availability of an antidote/rescue agent, leucovorin (LV) has allowed escalation of MTX doses to achieve enormous plasma concentrations, compared with plasma folate. However, a recent review of more than 40 trials for children with ALL concluded that the addition of high dose MTX (HDMTX) in many different doses and schedules did not improve CNS therapy and made only minor improvements in systemic therapy for children with ALL [11].