6 results
The effect of supplementing pony diets with yeast on 2. The faecal microbiome
- A. Garber, P. M. Hastie, V. Farci, D. McGuinness, L. Bulmer, O. Alzahal, J. M. D. Murray
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There is a need to develop feeding strategies to prevent the adverse effect of concentrate feeding in high-performance horses fed energy-dense diets aiming to maintain their health and welfare. The objective of this study is to determine the effect of a VistaEQ product containing 4% live yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae (S. cerevisiae), with activity 5 × 108 colony-forming unit/g and fed 2 g/pony per day, on faecal microbial populations when supplemented with high-starch and high-fibre diets using Illumina next generation sequencing of the V3-V4 region of the 16S ribosomal RNA gene. The four treatments were allocated to eight mature Welsh section A pony geldings enrolled in a 4-period × 8 animal crossover design. Each 19-day experimental period consisted of an 18-day adaptation phase and a single collection day, followed by a 7-day wash out period. After DNA extraction from faeces and library preparation, α-diversity and linear discriminant analysis effect size were performed using 16S metagenomics pipeline in Quantitative Insights Into Microbial Ecology (QIIME™) and Galaxy/Hutlab. Differences between the groups were considered significant when linear discriminant analysis score was >2 corresponding to P < 0.05. The present study showed that S. cerevisiae used was able to induce positive changes in the equine microbiota when supplemented to a high-fibre diet: it increased relative abundance (RA) of Lachnospiraceae and Dehalobacteriaceae family members associated with a healthy core microbiome. Yeast supplementation also increased the RA of fibrolytic bacteria (Ruminococcus) when fed with a high-fibre diet and reduced the RA of lactate producing bacteria (Streptococcus) when a high-starch diet was fed. In addition, yeast increased the RA of acetic, succinic acid producing bacterial family (Succinivibrionaceae) and butyrate producing bacterial genus (Roseburia) when fed with high-starch and high-fibre diets, respectively. VistaEQ supplementation to equine diets can be potentially used to prevent acidosis and increase fibre digestibility. It may help to meet the energy requirements of performance horses while maintaining gut health.
The effect of supplementing pony diets with yeast on 1. In vivo and in vitro digestibility, faecal pH and particle size
- A. Garber, P. M. Hastie, V. Farci, L. Bulmer, O. Alzahal, J. M. D. Murray
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Fibre is essential to maintain healthy gut; however, energy demands of performance horses can be too high to be met by forages alone. Yeast may support the function of cellulolytic bacteria to digest fibre. The aim of this work was to determine the effect of an oral supplement (VistaEQ) containing 4% live yeast on the in vitro and in vivo digestibility of high-starch (HS) and high-fibre diets (HF). Eight ponies were used in a 4 × 4 Latin square design consisting of 4- × 19-day periods and four diets: HF, HF + yeast (HFY), HS and HS + yeast (HSY). In vivo apparent digestibility (AD) was estimated using total collection technique, and faecal particle size was measured using NASCO digestive analyser. Faeces from the ponies were subsequently used as an inoculum in ANKOM RF gas production system to assess fermentation kinetics in vitro. Each module contained 1 g of feed substrate DM in the following combinations: 50% grass hay and 50% alfalfa (HF_50 : 50) or concentrate (HS_50 : 50), and 75% grass hay and 25% alfalfa (HF_75 : 25) or concentrate (HS_75 : 25) with or without yeast. Yeast was able to induce more gas production from HF_75 : 25, HS_75 : 25 and HF_50 : 50 feed substrates incubated with respective faecal inoculum base. Yeast did not affect pH in vitro when the substrates were incubated in 50 : 50 ratio, while the pH was higher for HF_75 : 25 incubated with correspondent faecal inoculum compared to HS_75 : 25 and HSY_75 : 25. Yeast had no effects on ADF and CP AD of either diet. Yeast addition increased DM (HF: 0.2%, HS: 0.4%), organic matter (HF: 0.7%, HS: 1.3%), NDF (HF: 0.5%, HS: 1.5%), total detergent fibre (HF: 0.7%; HS: 0.4%) (P < 0.05) and also tended to increase hemicellulose AD (HF: 0.9%, HS: 1.2%) (P < 0.10). Faecal pH in vivo was higher for both HF diets compared to HS diet without yeast supplementation (P < 0.001, HF and HFY: 6.8; HS: 6.6, HSY: 6.7). However, no difference was observed in faecal pH when HSY was compared to both HF diets. Yeast had no effect on the size of the faecal particles (P > 0.05). Yeast increased in vitro gas production, suggesting more energy could be extracted from the feed, and the in vivo AD of some of the nutrients when HF and HS diets were fed.
Application of the Solvency II Actuarial Function to general insurance firms
- Richard L. Williams, J. Anzsar, R. Bulmer, J. Buntine, M. Byrne, B. Gedalla, P. Goswamy, J. Grant, W. Heah, S. Keshani, J. Shah
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- Journal:
- British Actuarial Journal / Volume 21 / Issue 3 / September 2016
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 12 October 2016, pp. 476-530
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The Solvency II Directive introduces the idea of a formal Actuarial Function to have responsibility over delivering the requirements of Article 48 of the Directive. Article 48 describes the responsibilities as being concerned with technical provisions, an opinion on reinsurance adequacy, an opinion on underwriting policy and contributing to the risk management system. Considerable documentation has been produced by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) and the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority on the subject, much of it very recent to the publication of this paper. The purpose of this paper is to provide the reader with some practical insights and suggestions around addressing the requirements of Article 48 of the Solvency II Directive in general insurance firms, taking into consideration the publications of the aforementioned regulatory authorities. It is not our intention to give advice, nor to be seen to give advice, but rather to make suggestions and observations that we hope the reader will find useful. The Regulations lay down the tasks of the Actuarial Function, so insurers should consider the need for formal terms of reference, backed up by proportionate governance procedures. The Regulations also require the production of an Actuarial Function Report to document the tasks undertaken by the Actuarial Function and its results. Such a report can be an aggregate report, made up of individual component reports completed at suitable points in the Actuarial Function’s work cycle, so long as it reports on all the required tasks. The technical provisions section should cover at least all the areas laid down in the Delegated Acts. The opinions required covering reinsurance adequacy and underwriting policy are not formal “sign offs”, but contributions to the effective running of the insurer by applying the skills and knowledge of actuaries to areas for which they are not normally responsible. Again, the Delegated Acts mandate the minimum contribution the Actuarial Function should make. The responsibility for delivering the work of the Actuarial Function does not have to be given to a member of the IFoA; however, the PRA is going to require (at least) one person to be designated the “Chief Actuary”, defined as the person responsible for delivering the requirements of Article 48 of the Directive. In response, the IFoA has stated its intention to require its members holding the role of Chief Actuary, as defined by the PRA, to hold a practicing certificate. Any Actuarial Function will need to consider issues of governance, independence and conflicts of interests. The PRA intends to require the Actuarial Function to be independent of an insurer’s revenue-generating functions. In addition, normal good governance requires a degree of separation between those who perform Actuarial Function work and those who review and supervise it. There are numerous stakeholders in the Actuarial Function’s work. Some of these will rely on the output of the Actuarial Function, others will provide inputs to its work. Setting out stakeholder responsibilities clearly and in advance will be of vital importance. Good communication and coordination between these groups will be important to the efficient running of the insurer. Bringing together issues of governance, independence and meeting the Directive and regulators’ requirements will require a suitable organisational structure which will also need to consider practical issues, such as the availability of suitable staff. Many such arrangements may be possible, but all will require trading off advantages and disadvantages. The Actuarial Function is primarily about good practice and getting the most out of the actuarial skills available. For many insurers, meeting the requirements should not be unduly burdensome.
Contributors
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- By Federico Agliardi, Andrea Alpiger, Gianluca Bianchi Fasani, Lars Harald Blikra, Brian D. Bornhold, Edward N. Bromhead, Marko H.K. Bulmer, D. Calvin Campbell, Marie Charrière, Masahiro Chigira, John J. Clague, John Coggan, Giovanni B. Crosta, Tim Davies, Marc-Henri Derron, Mark Diederichs, Erik Eberhardt, Carlo Esposito, Robin Fell, Paolo Frattini, Corey R. Froese, Monica Ghirotti, Valentin Gischig, James S. Griffiths, Stephen R. Hencher, Reginald L. Hermanns, Kris Holm, Seyyedmahdi Hosseyni, Niels Hovius, Christian Huggel, Florian Humair, Oldrich Hungr, D. Jean Hutchinson, Michel Jaboyedoff, Matthias Jakob, Julien Jakubowski, Randall W. Jibson, Katherine S. Kalenchuk, Nikolay Khabarov, Oliver Korup, Luca Lenti, Serge Leroueil, Simon Loew, Oddvar Longva, Patrick MacGregor, Andrew W. Malone, Salvatore Martino, Scott McDougall, Mika McKinnon, Mauri McSaveney, Patrick Meunier, Dennis Moore, Jeffrey R. Moore, David C. Mosher, Michael Obersteiner, Lucio Olivares, Thierry Oppikofer, Luca Pagano, Massimo Pecci, Andrea Pedrazzini, David Petley, Luciano Picarelli, David J.W. Piper, John Psutka, Nicholas J. Roberts, Gabriele Scarascia Mugnozza, David Stapledon, Douglas Stead, Richard E. Thomson, Paolo Tommasi, J. Kenneth Torrance, Nobuyuki Torii, Gianfranco Urciuoli, Gonghui Wang, Christopher F. Waythomas, Malcolm Whitworth, Heike Willenberg, Xiyong Wu
- Edited by John J. Clague, Simon Fraser University, British Columbia, Douglas Stead, Simon Fraser University, British Columbia
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- Landslides
- Published online:
- 05 May 2013
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- 23 August 2012, pp vii-x
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Whatever Happened to Social Indicators? A Symposium*
- Frank M. Andrews, Martin Bulmer, Abbott L. Ferriss, Jonathan Gershuny, Wolfgang Glatzer, Heinz-Herbert Noll, Judith Eleanor Innes, Denis F. Johnston, Duncan Macrae, Jr, Joachim Vogel, Michael Ward
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- Journal:
- Journal of Public Policy / Volume 9 / Issue 4 / October 1989
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 28 November 2008, p. 399
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Twenty years ago the publication of Toward a Social Report by the United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare was hailed as a major forward step in developing indicators of conditions in society into a national system of social accounting of relevance to public policy. The resulting social indicators movement quickly mobilized able social scientists to produce a variety of indicators monitoring trends in their society, and internationally. National governments too began to sponsor new types of social reports. The years since have seen an apparent decline in the momentum of the social indicators movement. Hence, to evaluate developments, the Journal of Public Policy invited a number of distinguished pioneers in the movement in Europe and America to give their individual assessment of what has happened to social indicators.
Fos expression in the midbrain periaqueductal grey after trigeminovascular stimulation
- KAREN L. HOSKIN, DAVID C. E. BULMER, MICHELE LASALANDRA, ANJA JONKMAN, PETER J. GOADSBY
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- Journal:
- The Journal of Anatomy / Volume 198 / Issue 1 / January 2001
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 20 March 2001, pp. 29-35
- Print publication:
- January 2001
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There is an accumulating body of evidence suggesting that the periaqueductal grey (PAG) is involved in the pathophysiology of migraine. Positron emission tomography (PET) studies in humans have shown that the caudal ventrolateral midbrain, encompassing the ventrolateral PAG, has activations during migraine attacks. The PAG may well be involved not only through the descending modulation of nociceptive afferent information, but also by its ascending projections to the pain processing centres of the thalamus. In this study the intranuclear oncogene protein Fos was used to mark cell activation in the PAG following stimulation of the trigeminally-innervated superior sagittal sinus (SSS) in both cats and in nonhuman primates (Macaca nemestrina). Fos expression in the PAG increased following stimulation to a median of 242 cells (interquartile range 236–272) in the cat and 155 cells (range 104–203) in the monkey, compared with control levels of 35 cells (21–50) and 26 cells (18–33), respectively. Activation was predominantly in the ventrolateral area of the caudal PAG suggesting that the PAG is involved following trigeminally-evoked craniovascular pain.