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Animal Science Journal = Nihon Chikusan... Jan 2018Upright and pendulous combs commonly exist in most single-comb chicken breeds. Here, the phenotypic characteristics of upright and pendulous combs in chickens and...
Upright and pendulous combs commonly exist in most single-comb chicken breeds. Here, the phenotypic characteristics of upright and pendulous combs in chickens and association with growth rate and egg production were analyzed. Phenotypic frequencies of upright and pendulous comb were investigated in five chicken breeds; the phenotypic frequencies of complete pendulous comb (CPC) and partial pendulous comb (PPC) ranged from 10.1% to 29.0% and 21.8% to 65.3%, respectively. CPC hens produced more eggs than PPC hens (P < 0.05) in Nongda-3, Huainan and Wenchang breeds. In Huainan breed, CPC males were heavier than PPC males at 12 and 16 weeks of age, while CPC females were heavier at 24 weeks of age. PPC and CPC chickens have greater (P < 0.05) comb length, comb height and comb index than upright comb (UC) chickens. There was no significant difference in comb phenotypic frequency distribution between the offspring from UC(♂) × CPC(♀) and CPC(♂) × UC(♀); however, it differed (χ² = 45.12, P < 0.01) between offspring from UC(♂) × UC(♀) and CPC(♂) × CPC(♀). These results suggested that the comb phenotype does not appear to be Z-linked; the effective loci influencing the trait could be estimated in a further study.
Topics: Anatomic Variation; Animals; Breeding; Chickens; Comb and Wattles; Female; Male; Ovulation
PubMed: 28960711
DOI: 10.1111/asj.12922 -
South African Journal of Surgery.... Dec 2021Gestational gigantomastia is rare and characterised by rapid and disproportionate enlargement of the breast during pregnancy. It often requires surgical removal of more...
Gestational gigantomastia is rare and characterised by rapid and disproportionate enlargement of the breast during pregnancy. It often requires surgical removal of more than 1500 g of breast tissue. Of the 50 case reports published worldwide, not one was in South African literature. This unusual case report is of a female presenting with gigantomastia at five weeks gestational age. The patient was multiparous and decided to terminate the pregnancy due to the physical and emotional effects of the large, pendulous breasts. Management included breast reduction and free nipple grafting in a staged approach. The complications are briefly outlined. Despite rare presentation, patient satisfaction was achieved.
Topics: Breast; Female; Humans; Hypertrophy; Mammaplasty; Nipples; Pregnancy
PubMed: 34889547
DOI: No ID Found -
Handbook of Clinical Neurology 2024In neurology practice, it is common to encounter a variety of visual complaints. Historically, in the absence of known ocular pathology, epilepsy, or insult to the... (Review)
Review
In neurology practice, it is common to encounter a variety of visual complaints. Historically, in the absence of known ocular pathology, epilepsy, or insult to the central nervous system, positive symptoms were assumed to be migrainous in origin. This assumption was sometimes made even in the absence of a history of migraine. In the past decade, there has been considerable effort to better delineate and study nonmigrainous visual phenomena, with the most extensive focus on a newly defined syndrome, visual snow syndrome (VSS). The heightened awareness of visual snow as a symptom and syndrome has greatly enhanced the understanding of this visual phenomenon; however, in the last few years, there has been an almost pendulous swing in clinic, with patients now being given the diagnosis of VSS for any dots or flickering they may have in their vision. To avoid clinical misdiagnosis, it is critical that we expand our understanding not just of VSS but also of underlying pathologies that may present similarly. This chapter will review classical migraine aura, persistent migraine aura, visual snow and a number of positive and negative visual complaints that are on the differential when seeing patients with suspected aura or visual snow. This is followed by an in-depth discussion on the current understanding of the presenting symptoms, pathophysiology, evaluation and management of VSS. We also outline secondary causes of visual snow.
Topics: Humans; Vision Disorders; Migraine Disorders; Migraine with Aura; Perceptual Disorders; Epilepsy; Syndrome
PubMed: 38307662
DOI: 10.1016/B978-0-12-823357-3.00018-5 -
Clinical and Experimental Dermatology Jul 2020
Topics: Abdomen; Dermatitis; Diagnosis, Differential; Humans; Lymphedema; Male; Middle Aged; Obesity, Morbid; Scleroderma, Localized
PubMed: 32141633
DOI: 10.1111/ced.14210 -
Poultry Science Feb 2022Pendulous crop (PC) in the turkey occurs when the crop distends from its normal position, thereby preventing the movement of feed and water from the crop down into the...
Pendulous crop (PC) in the turkey occurs when the crop distends from its normal position, thereby preventing the movement of feed and water from the crop down into the digestive system. This condition negatively impacts the turkey industry at both production and welfare levels. In this study, we estimated the genetic parameters for PC incidence and its genetic correlation with 5 production traits. Additionally, we evaluated the prediction accuracy and bias of breeding values for the selection candidates using pedigree (BLUP) or pedigree-genomic (ssGBLUP) relationships among the animals. A total of 245,783 turkey records were made available by Hybrid Turkeys, Kitchener, Canada. Of these, 6,545 were affected with PC. In addition, the data included 9,634 records for breast meat yield (BMY); 5,592 records for feed conversion ratio (FCR) and residual feed intake (RFI) in males; 170,844 records for body weight (BW) and walking score (WS) between 18 and 20 wk of age for males (71,012) and females (99,832), respectively. Among this population, 36,830 were genotyped using a 65K SNP Illumina Inc. chip. While all animals passed the quality control criteria, only 53,455 SNP markers were retained for subsequent analysis. Heritability for PC was estimated at 0.16 ± 0.00 and 0.17 ± 0.00 using BLUP and ssGBLUP, respectively. The incidence of PC was not genetically correlated with WS or FCR. Low unfavourable genetic correlations with BW (0.12 and 0.14), BMY (0.24 and 0.24) and RFI (-0.33 and -0.28) were obtained using BLUP and ssGBLUP, respectively. Using ssGBLUP showed higher prediction accuracy (0.51) for the breeding values for the selection candidates than the pedigree-based model (0.35). Whereas the bias of the prediction was slightly reduced with ssGBLUP (0.33 ± 0.05) than BLUP (0.30 ± 0.08), both models showed a regression coefficient lower than one, indicating inflation in the predictions. The results of this study suggest that PC is a heritable trait and selection for lower PC incidence rates is feasible. Although further investigation is necessary, selection for BW, BMY, and RFI may increase PC incidence. Incorporating genomic information would lead to higher accuracy in predicting the genetic merit for selection candidates.
Topics: Animals; Body Weight; Chickens; Female; Genomics; Genotype; Male; Models, Genetic; Pedigree; Phenotype; Turkeys
PubMed: 34954445
DOI: 10.1016/j.psj.2021.101601 -
Urology Mar 2019To present a multi-institutional experience with functional and patient-reported outcomes among men undergoing excision and primary anastomosis (EPA) urethroplasty for...
OBJECTIVES
To present a multi-institutional experience with functional and patient-reported outcomes among men undergoing excision and primary anastomosis (EPA) urethroplasty for pendulous urethral strictures.
METHODS
We describe the technique and present our experience with EPA for focal penile strictures. Patients undergoing urethroplasty (2004-2017) at 2 tertiary referral centers were reviewed, of whom 14 (0.7%) underwent EPA of radiographically confirmed pendulous urethral strictures. Validated questionnaires were utilized to evaluate overall improvement (Patient Global Impression of Improvement), urinary bother (International Prostate Symptom Score), and sexual function (International Index of Erectile Function-5). Treatment success was defined as urethral patency without need for subsequent reconstruction.
RESULTS
Among 14 men undergoing penile EPA, 13/14 (93%) had durable treatment success over a median follow-up of 43 months. No patient reported penile curvature postoperatively. Stricture etiology in most cases was posttraumatic (12/14), of which 4 had a history of urethral disruption secondary to penile fracture and 8 iatrogenic trauma. Median age was 51 years (IQR 30-60) and stricture length 1.0 cm (IQR 1.0-1.4). Erectile function was normal in 8/14 patients preoperatively, and postoperative median International Index of Erectile Function was 21. Most men reported significant global improvement in condition (median Patient Global Impression of Improvement 2, IQR 1-3) and most had only mild urinary bother (median International Prostate Symptom Score 4, quality of life 1). The single treatment failure had a history of hypospadias with multiple prior urethral procedures.
CONCLUSION
For men with short strictures of the pendulous urethra, EPA has a high success rate, without adverse sequelae such as erectile function or penile curvature.
Topics: Adult; Anastomosis, Surgical; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Urethra; Urethral Stricture; Urologic Surgical Procedures, Male
PubMed: 30125648
DOI: 10.1016/j.urology.2018.05.043 -
International Journal of Law and... 2016The role of law in regulating mental health detention has come to engender great contention in the legal and sociological disciplines alike. This conflict is... (Review)
Review
The role of law in regulating mental health detention has come to engender great contention in the legal and sociological disciplines alike. This conflict is multifaceted but is centred upon the extent to which law should control the psychiatric power of detention. In this manner the evolution of law regulating mental health detention has been seen in terms of a pendulous movement between two extremes of medicalism and legalism. Drawing on socio-legal literature, legislation, international treaties and case law this article examines the changing purpose of mental health law from an English and Council of Europe perspective by utilizing the concepts of medicalism, legalism and new legalism as descriptive devices before arguing that the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities goes further than all of these concepts and has the potential to influence mental health laws internationally.
Topics: Commitment of Mentally Ill; Deinstitutionalization; Europe; Forecasting; Hospitals, Psychiatric; Humanism; Humans; Medicalization; Mentally Ill Persons; Patient Rights; Psychiatric Rehabilitation; United States
PubMed: 27059132
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijlp.2016.02.021 -
A lever action hypothesis for pendulous hummingbird flowers: experimental evidence from a columbine.Annals of Botany Jan 2020Pendulous flowers (due to a flexible pedicel) are a common, convergent trait of hummingbird-pollinated flowers. However, the role of flexible pedicels remains uncertain...
BACKGROUND AND AIMS
Pendulous flowers (due to a flexible pedicel) are a common, convergent trait of hummingbird-pollinated flowers. However, the role of flexible pedicels remains uncertain despite several functional hypotheses. Here we present and test the 'lever action hypothesis': flexible pedicels allow pendulous flowers to move upwards from all sides, pushing the stigma and anthers against the underside of the feeding hummingbird regardless of which nectary is being visited.
METHODS
To test whether this lever action increased pollination success, we wired emasculated flowers of serpentine columbine, Aquilegia eximia, to prevent levering and compared pollination success of immobilized flowers with emasculated unwired and wire controls.
KEY RESULTS
Seed set was significantly lower in wire-immobilized flowers than unwired control and wire control flowers. Video analysis of visits to wire-immobilized and unwired flowers demonstrated that birds contacted the stigmas and anthers of immobilized flowers less often than those of flowers with flexible pedicels.
CONCLUSIONS
We conclude that flexible pedicels permit the levering of reproductive structures onto a hovering bird. Hummingbirds, as uniquely large, hovering pollinators, differ from flies or bees which are too small to cause levering of flowers while hovering. Thus, flexible pedicels may be an adaptation to hummingbird pollination, in particular due to hummingbird size. We further speculate that this mechanism is effective only in radially symmetric flowers; in contrast, zygomorphic hummingbird-pollinated flowers are usually more or less horizontally oriented rather than having pendulous flowers and flexible pedicels.
Topics: Animals; Aquilegia; Bees; Birds; Flowers; Pollination; Reproduction
PubMed: 31402377
DOI: 10.1093/aob/mcz134 -
Urology Jun 2022Post-phalloplasty, patients may present with urologic complications, including strictures, urethrocutaneous fistulas and vaginal cavity remnants. OBJECTIVE: To...
BACKGROUND
Post-phalloplasty, patients may present with urologic complications, including strictures, urethrocutaneous fistulas and vaginal cavity remnants. OBJECTIVE: To demonstrate the feasibility of staged repairs for long complex neophallus strictures.
METHODS
All post-phalloplasty patients who underwent pendulous (pars pendulans) or panurethral urethroplasty for strictures >7 cm were identified. In preparation for surgery patients were co-managed with their local providers, whenever possible, in treating symptomatic infections with culture-specific antibiotics, draining abscess and managing suprapubic catheters. During Stage-1, a ventral incision through the perineum and neophallus was created to expose remnants of the neo-urethral plate. Additional findings (fistula/remnant cavity) were treated at this stage if found, along with re-mobilization of a previously placed gracilis flap. The neourethral plate was augmented with buccal mucosal graft (BMG) with a goal of achieving an approximately 3-cm-wide plate. The lateral neourethral edges were sutured to the edges of the skin incision creating a temporary perineal urethrostomy. Stage-2 was performed in a delayed fashion and included mobilization and tubularization of the neourethra, with additional oral mucosa inlay (BMG or lingual), if needed, followed by a multi-layer closure. Postoperatively, patients were assessed in clinic when possible, or via telemedicine appointments for urethral patency, and queried using patient-reported outcome measures. Failures were defined as need for additional revisions or urethral instrumentation.
RESULTS
Twenty-one patients presented between December 2013 and July 2021 with urinary obstruction due to long penile strictures. Seventeen patients, mean age 33 (22-58), elected to undergo staged reconstruction. Prior phalloplasty techniques included radial forearm flap phalloplasty in 15/17 and anterolateral thigh flap in 2/17. In 11/17 patients BMG was previously used during phalloplasty for urethral prelamination. Mean stricture length was 12 cm (7-17). Concurrent procedures during Stage-1 included re-harvesting BMG (11/17), gracilis flap re-mobilization (7/17) and redo-vaginectomy (5/17). During Stage-2, 14 patients (82%) required additional oral graft inlays: lingual 6/14 (including 2 bilateral), BMG 5/14 (including 1 bilateral) and lingual+BMG in 3/14. At a mean follow-up of 24 months (4-77), there were 2 failures (12%). Thirteen patients completed follow-up questionnaires and all reported upright voiding and at least a moderate improvement in their condition on Global Response Assessment: +3 (markedly improved) in 11/13 (85%), and +2 (moderately improved) in 2/13 (15%).
CONCLUSION
A staged urethroplasty is a feasible option for transgender men with long complex penile strictures of the neophallus. This technique demonstrates promising early functional outcomes and high patient satisfaction.
Topics: Adult; Constriction, Pathologic; Female; Humans; Male; Mouth Mucosa; Penile Diseases; Retrospective Studies; Treatment Outcome; Urethra; Urethral Stricture; Urologic Surgical Procedures, Male
PubMed: 35101545
DOI: 10.1016/j.urology.2021.12.029 -
Technology in Cancer Research &... 2021To evaluate geometric and dosimetric effects of bra application during radiotherapy planning for breast cancer patients with large and pendulous breasts.
PURPOSE
To evaluate geometric and dosimetric effects of bra application during radiotherapy planning for breast cancer patients with large and pendulous breasts.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Twenty patients with chest sizes >38 inches between April 2019 and July 2019 underwent radiotherapy planning with and without a radiation bra (Chabner XRT). Geometric and dosimetric parameters included the breast volume, superior-inferior (SI) distance, separation (S) as the distance of the longest diameter of the clinical target volume (CTV), conformity number (CN), and homogeneity index (HI) of CTV. The organs at risk (OARs) were defined as the lungs, heart, and liver.
RESULTS
The use of the radiation bra provided mean changes of -0.51 cm for S, -1.45 cm for SI, and -61.18 cc for breast volume (all < 0.05). Breast volume was correlated with bra-related changes in cross diameter (r = 0.641, = 0.002) and volume (r = 0.680, = 0.001). Significant dose reductions were observed for the lungs (mean V: 19.58 cc, V: 17.13 cc, D: 86.24 cGy) and heart (D: 170.23 cGy). No significant differences were observed for CN (0.62-0.67) and HI (0.19-0.20) of the CTV.
CONCLUSION
The application of a radiation bra was associated with better geometric and dosimetric planning parameters, with a smaller CTV and lower doses to the OARs (lungs and heart) in the radiotherapy field. In addition, we expect that bra use during radiotherapy would provide emotional benefits.
Topics: Adult; Aged; Breast; Breast Neoplasms; Clothing; Female; Heart; Humans; Liver; Lung; Middle Aged; Organ Size; Organs at Risk; Radiation Dosage; Radiotherapy Dosage; Radiotherapy Planning, Computer-Assisted; Retrospective Studies
PubMed: 34180303
DOI: 10.1177/15330338211027909