Search results for "sheep"

Effect of Sheep Wool Fibers on Thermal Insulation and Mechanical Properties of Cement-Based Composites

2019

The use of sheep wool as a filler of cement in order to produce mortar or plaster involves several advantages for environment and energy. Moreover, it is considered as a waste and, therefore, its use is characterized by low cost. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the influence of wool fibers on thermal conductivity and mechanical properties of cement. The samples were prepared using wool fibers, obtained from a breed of Sicilian sheep, with three different lengths (i.e., 1, 6, and 20 mm). Furthermore, in order to evaluate the influence of fiber content, the samples were prepared by varying the fiber weight fraction. The thermal conductivity of the samples was analyzed by using a heat flo…

A novel cholinergic-specific antigen (Chol-2) in mammalian brain.

1993

Three new antisera have been raised in sheep against cholinergic electromotor presynaptic plasma membranes prepared from the electric organs of the electric ray, Torpedo marmorata. They all recognized one or more cholinergic-specific antigens in the mammalian nervous system by the following criteria: they sensitized the cholinergic subpopulation of rat-brain synaptosomes--and only this subpopulation--to lysis by the complement system and, in an immunocytochemical study, selectively stained choline acetyltransferase-positive cholinergic neurons in the rat spinal cord. However, two of the three antisera failed to recognize Chol-1 alpha and -beta, two closely related minor gangliosides already…

Diurnal variation of corticotropin-releasing factor binding sites in the rat brain and pituitary.

1996

1. Corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) is thought to be involved in the regulation of the diurnal activity of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and to act as a neurotransmitter in the brain. To date it is unknown whether the binding sites of the central CRF system are subject to diurnal variations. 2. We measured the number of CRF binding sites over the course of a complete 24-hr light-dark cycle in the pituitary, amygdala, bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST), cingulate cortex, visceral cortex, paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus, hippocampus, and locus ceruleus of rats by in vitro receptor autoradiography with iodinated ovine CRF. A 24-hr time course was also es…

Combined approaches to identify genomic regions involved in phenotypic differentiation between low divergent breeds: Application in Sardinian sheep p…

2019

Selective breeding has led to modifications in the genome of many livestock breeds. In this study, we identified the genomic regions that may explain some of the phenotypic differences between two closely related breeds from Sardinia. A total of 44 animals, 20 Sardinian Ancestral Black (SAB) and 24 Sardinian White (SW), were genotyped using the Illumina Ovine 50K array. A total of 68, 38 and 15 significant markers were identified using the case–control genome-wide association study (GWAS), the Bayesian population differentiation analysis (FST) and the Rsb metric, respectively. Comparisons among the approaches revealed a total of 22 overlapping markers between GWAS and FST and one marker bet…

Coat darkness is associated with social dominance and mating behaviour in a mountain sheep hybrid lineage

2008

Natural hybridization can produce novel traits when morphologically different populations hybridize, and can introduce variation in traits that become associated with sexual selection. Evidence from breeding experiments and genetic markers indicate that the great variation in coat darkness and the unique coat patterns found in Stone's sheep Ovis dalli stonei, populations, have resulted from an ancient hybridization event between thinhorn sheep, O. dalli, and bighorn sheep, O. canadensis. Behavioural evidence gathered in 2003 and 2004 in Yukon Territory, Canada, showed that higher dominance rank was correlated with increasing darkness in rams, and comparatively darker rams were seen more oft…

Enzymatic alteration of C1q, the collagen-like subcomponent of the first component of complement, leads to cross-reactivity with type II collagen

1988

AbstractNative serum C1q, the collagenous-like subcomponent of the first component of complement, is not recognized by polyclonal anti-collagen type II antibodies. However, when purified C1q was subjected to limited proteolysis by collagenase it showed antigenic cross-reactivity with collagen type II. The same cross-reactivity was observed with hemolytically active C1q in synovial fluids of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), whereas C1q from synovial fluids of patients with osteoarthritis (OA), villo-nodular synovitis and ankylosing spondylitis was not recognized by this antibody. However, incubation of synovial fluid C1q of OA patients with synovial fluid leucocytes from RA patients …

Complement receptors on lymphocytes

1981

Effects of continuous and rotational grazing of different forage species on ewe milk production

2012

Abstract The aim of this research was to evaluate the effects of continuous and rotational grazing of different forage species on milk production in ewes. The forage species were chicory (Cichorium intybus L.), a mixture of oat (Avena sativa L.) and berseem clover (Trifolium alexandrinum L.), and sulla (Hedysarum coronarium L.). Forty ewes were divided into 5 groups, and subjected to one of the following treatments: continuous grazing on chicory, continuous grazing on the mixture, continuous grazing on sulla, rotational grazing on the mixture, or rotational grazing on sulla. Among the species continuously grazed, chicory showed a lower biomass than the mixture, or sulla. Ewes grazing chicor…

High-Density Genomic Characterization of Native Croatian Sheep Breeds

2022

A recent comprehensive genomic analysis based on 50K SNP profiles has shown that the regional Balkan sheep populations have considerable genetic overlap but are distinctly different from surrounding breeds. All eight Croatian sheep breeds were represented by a small number of individuals per breed. Here, we genotyped 220 individuals representing the native Croatian sheep breeds (Istrian Sheep, Krk Island Sheep, Cres Island Sheep, Rab Island Sheep, Lika Pramenka, Pag Island Sheep, Dalmatian Pramenka, Dubrovnik Sheep) and mouflon using the Ovine Infinium® HD SNP BeadChip (606,006 SNPs). In addition, we included publicly available Balkan Pramenka and other Mediterranean sheep breeds. Our analy…

High-density genomic characterization of native Croatian sheep breeds

2022

A recent comprehensive genomic analysis based on 50K SNP profiles has shown that the regional Balkan sheep populations have considerable genetic overlap but are distinctly different from surrounding breeds. All eight Croatian sheep breeds were represented by a small number of individuals per breed. Here, we genotyped 220 individuals representing the native Croatian sheep breeds (Istrian Sheep, Krk Island Sheep, Cres Island Sheep, Rab Island Sheep, Lika Pramenka, Pag Island Sheep, Dalmatian Pramenka, Dubrovnik Sheep) and mouflon using the Ovine Infinium® HD SNP BeadChip (606, 006 SNPs). In addition, we included publicly available Balkan Pramenka and other Mediterranean sheep breeds. Our anal…