Wagyu bulls are known to have a highly exacerbated libido, as shown by the intense sexual interest of young calves. Therefore we believe that Wagyu male animals have specialized Sertoli and Leydig cells that are directly involved with the sexual precocity in this breed as mature bulls have a small scrotal circumference. This study aimed to evaluate whether there were differences in the hormone and sperm characteristics of Wagyu bulls compared with the same characteristics of subspecies Bos indicus and Bos taurus sires. Frozen–thawed semen from Wagyu, Nellore, and Angus sires were analyzed for sperm kinetics (computer-assisted sperm analysis), plasma membrane integrity, chromatin integrity, acrosome status, mitochondrial activity, lipid peroxidation and hormone [luteinizing hormone (LH) and testosterone] serum concentration. The results showed that Wagyu had lower total motility and an increased number of sperm with no motility when compared with Nellore and Angus bulls. Wagyu breed did not differ from those breeds when considering plasma and acrosome membranes integrity, mitochondrial potential, chromatin resistance, sperm lipid peroxidation or hormone (LH and testosterone) concentrations. We concluded that Wagyu sires had lower total motility when compared with Nellore and Angus bulls. Wagyu breed did not differ from these breeds when considering plasma and acrosome membranes integrity, mitochondrial potential, chromatin resistance, sperm lipid peroxidation, or hormone (LH and testosterone) concentrations.

This paper discusses the evidence for periodic human activity in the Cairngorm Mountains of Scotland from the late 9th millennium to the early 4th millennium cal bc. While contemporary paradigms for Mesolithic Europe acknowledge the significance of upland environments, the archaeological record for these areas is not yet as robust as that for the lowland zone. Results of excavation at Chest of Dee, along the headwaters of the River Dee, are set into a wider context with previously published excavations in the area. A variety of site types evidences a sophisticated relationship between people and a dynamic landscape through a period of changing climate. Archaeological benefits of the project include the ability to examine novel aspects of the archaeology leading to a more comprehensive understanding of Mesolithic lifeways. It also offers important lessons in site survival, archaeological investigation, and the management of the upland zone.

Suicide is one of the leading causes of death worldwide, and the third leading cause of death among people aged below 25. Mental health promotion is a central aspect of the battle against suicide and mental ill-health. The internet and the media are effective tools for disseminating information and education to adolescents and improving their mental health and well-being. in 2011 there were 2.1 billion Internet users world-wide. in a random sample of over 3000 American adults, it was found that 58% of the Internet users reported searching for health information for themselves (Atkinson et al. 2009).

The main objective of the SUPREME project is to develop a website aimed at mental health promotion and to investigate its efficacy. A secondary goal is to compare two different strategies for promoting the use of the website: one where peers are the main promoters and another with mental health professionals. The study is partly funded by the EACH and comprises 7 European countries: Estonia, Hungary, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, Lithuania and Sweden.

Adolescents in this study approached in a random sample of schools, in each participating country, yielding a total of 2100 participants. The schools were randomized into control (minimal intervention), and intervention conditions (minimal intervention + website access). Pre-, post- and follow-up measures are used to test the efficacy of the intervention. Each intervention school is also randomized into peer and pro dissemination groups for comparison of recruitment efficiency. Preliminary results are presented.

Obradovicite, ideal formula H4CuFe2(AsO4) (MoO4)5 · 12H2O, occurs as fine pea-green clusters on quartz from Chuquicamata, Chile. Obradovicite is orthorhombic, space group Pcnm; a = 15.046, b = 14.848, c = 11.056 Å, Z = 4. The strongest powder pattern lines are (d Å, I, hkl) 10.565(8)(110), 8.906(10)(101), 7.424(8)(020), 5.733(5)(211), 3.761(3)(400), 3.686(4)(032), 3.466(3)(411), 3.344(4)(420). It is biaxial positive with α = 1.790, β = 1.798, γ = 1.811, 2Vz = 81°, a = Z, b = X, c = Y, with strong dispersion and pale yellow pleochroism. Specific gravity is 3.55 (meas.) or 3.68 (calc.) and the Mohs hardness is 2½ with no obvious cleavage. Obradovicite is similar to betpakdalite and sodium-betpakdalite except that it contains essential Cu and K (K > Na).

Chloroxiphite, Pb3CuO2(OH)2Cl2, is monoclinic, space group P21/m, with a = 10·458, b = 5·750, c = 6·693 Å, β = 97·79°, Z = 2. The structure has been refined by the method of least squares from three-dimensional Mo-Kα intensity data to a conventional R value of 0·115. The structure consists of sheets of composition [Pb3 CuO2(OH)2]2−, in themselves made up of the layer sequence Pb-(O, OH, Cu)-Pb, lying parallel to (01). The structure contains eight-fold PbO4Cl4 and seven-fold PbO5Cl2 polyhedra common in other oxychlorides, Pb6 clusters and copper atoms in square planar, Cu(OH)4, coordination.

Junitoite, CaZn2Si2O7·H2O, is orthorhombic, space group Area2, with a = 12.510, b = 6.318, c = 8.561 Å, Z = 4. The structure, determined on the basis of three-dimensional Mo-Kα intensity data for 745 reflections refined to R = 0.10. The structure consists of ZnO4 tetrahedral chains along b joined by Si2O4 groups along a and c to form a three-dimensional network. Ca occurs in distorted CaO5(H2O) octahedra. The structure shows similarities to hemimorphite and Ca-Zn silicates but represents a unique tetrahedral framework.

Little is known about Salmonella serovars circulating in backyard poultry and swine populations worldwide. Backyard production systems (BPS) that raise swine and/or poultry are distributed across Chile, but are more heavily concentrated in central Chile, where industrialized systems are in close contact with BPS. This study aims to detect and identify circulating Salmonella serovars in poultry and swine raised in BPS. Bacteriological Salmonella isolation was carried out for 1744 samples collected from 329 BPS in central Chile. Faecal samples were taken from swine, poultry, geese, ducks, turkeys and peacocks, as well as environmental faecal samples. Confirmation of Salmonella spp. was performed using invA-polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Identification of serovars was carried out using a molecular serotyping approach, where serogroups were confirmed by a multiplex PCR of Salmonella serogroup genes for five Salmonella O antigens (i.e., D, B, C1, C2-C3, and E1), along with two PCR amplifications, followed by sequencing of fliC and fljB genes. A total of 25 samples (1·4% of total samples) from 15 BPS (4·6 % of total sampled BPS) were found positive for Salmonella. Positive samples were found in poultry (chickens and ducks), swine and environmental sources. Molecular prediction of serovars on Salmonella isolated showed 52·0% of S. Typhimurium, 16·0% of S. Infantis, 16·0% S. Enteritidis, 8·0% S. Hadar, 4·0% S. Tennessee and 4·0% S. Kentucky. Poor biosecurity measures were found on sampled BPS, where a high percentage of mixed confinement systems (72·8%); and almost half of the sampled BPS with improper management of infected mortalities (e.g. selling the carcasses of infected animals for consumption). Number of birds other than chickens (P = 0·014; OR = 1·04; IC (95%) = 1·01–1·07), mixed productive objective (P = 0·030; OR = 5·35; IC (95%) = 1·24–27·59) and mixed animal replacement origin (P = 0017; OR = 5·19; IC (95%) = 1·35–20·47) were detected as risk factors for BPS positivity to Salmonella spp. This is the first evidence of serovars of Salmonella spp. circulating in BPS from central Chile. Detected serovars have been linked to human and animal clinical outbreaks worldwide and in Chile, highlighting the importance of BPS on the control and dissemination of Salmonella serovars potentially hazardous to public health.

An updated compilation of published and new data of major-ion (Ca, Cl, K, Mg, Na, NO3, SO4) and methylsulfonate (MS) concentrations in snow from 520 Antarctic sites is provided by the national ITASE (International Trans-Antarctic Scientific Expedition) programmes of Australia, Brazil, China, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Norway, the United Kingdom, the United States and the national Antarctic programme of Finland. The comparison shows that snow chemistry concentrations vary by up to four orders of magnitude across Antarctica and exhibit distinct geographical patterns. The Antarctic-wide comparison of glaciochemical records provides a unique opportunity to improve our understanding of the fundamental factors that ultimately control the chemistry of snow or ice samples. This paper aims to initiate data compilation and administration in order to provide a framework for facilitation of Antarctic-wide snow chemistry discussions across all ITASE nations and other contributing groups. The data are made available through the ITASE web page (http://www2.umaine.edu/itase/content/syngroups/snowchem.html) and will be updated with new data as they are provided. In addition, recommendations for future research efforts are summarized.

The Canyon Creek vertebrate-fossil locality is an extensive road cut near Fairbanks that exposes sediments that range in age from early Wisconsin to late Holocene. Tanana River gravel at the base of the section evidently formed during the Delta Glaciation of the north-central Alaska Range. Younger layers and lenses of fluvial sand are interbedded with arkosic gravel from Canyon Creek that contains tephra as well as fossil bones of an interstadial fauna about 40,000 years old. Solifluction deposits containing ventifacts, wedge casts, and rodent burrows formed during a subsequent period of periglacial activity that took place during the maximum phase of Donnelly Glaciation about 25,000–17,000 years ago. Overlying sheets of eolian sand are separated by a 9500-year-old paleosol that may correlate with a phase of early Holocene spruce expansion through central Alaska. The Pleistocene fauna from Canyon Creek consists of rodents (indicated by burrows), Mammuthus primigenius (woolly mammoth), Equus lambei (Yukon wild ass), Camelops hesternus (western camel), Bison sp. cf. B. crassicornis (large-horned bison), Ovis sp. cf.O. dalli (mountain sheep), Canis sp. cf. C. lupus (wolf), Lepus sp. cf. L. othus or L. arcticus (tundra hare), and Rangifer sp. (caribou). This assemblage suggests an open landscape in which trees and tall shrubs were either absent or confined to sheltered and moist sites. Camelops evidently was present in eastern Beringia during the middle Wisconsin interstadial interval but may have disappeared during the following glacial episode. The stratigraphic section at Canyon Creek appears to demonstrate that the Delta Glaciation of the north-central Alaska Range is at least in part of early Wisconsin age and was separated from the succeeding Donnelly Glaciation by an interstadial rather than interglacial episode.