The sperm-specific phospholipase C zeta (PLCz) is a candidate sperm-borne oocyte-activating factor that triggers a characteristic series of physiological stimuli via cytoplasmic Ca(2+) oscillations during fertilization. The molecular mechanisms involved in the regulation of PLCz gene expression remain largely unknown. To explore the genetic variations in the 5'-flanking region of the PLCz gene ...

The Holstein Hubbard and Holstein t–J models are studied for a wide range of phonon frequencies, electron–electron and electron–phonon interaction strengths on finite lattices with up to ten sites by means of direct Lanczos diagonalization. Previously the necessary truncation of the phononic Hilbert space caused serious limitations to either very small systems (four or even two sites) or to wea...

BACKGROUND Natural heterologous valved conduits with a diameter greater than 22 mm that can be used for right ventricular outflow tract reconstruction in adults are not commercially available. The purpose of this study was to measure by ultrasonography the maximum diameter of the distended jugular veins of horses and cattle, respectively, to identify a population of animals that would be suitab...

Mastitis is a costly disease of dairy cattle as it causes a loss in milk yield and milk quality in affected cows. Toll-like receptor (TLR) genes play a role in the host response to a variety of organisms including those inducing mastitis. In the present study, we investigated the polymorphism of TLR2, 4, 6 and 9 genes in Holstein cattle and ...

Charolais sires can be mated to Montbéliard or Holstein dairy cows to produce crossbred calves sold for meat production. Heritabilities and correlations between traits can differ when they are calculated within Charolais × Montbéliard or within Charolais × Holstein population. Moreover, the genetic correlation between the same trait measured on Charolais × Montbéliard and on Charolais × Holstei...

Nuclear and plastid sequences from two individuals of a suspected new species of Coccinia from West Africa were added to an available molecular phylogeny for the remaining 27 species of the genus. Phylogenetic analyses of these data indicate the new species' monophyletic status and closest relatives. Based on four fertile collections, we here describe and illustrate Coccinia intermedia Holstein...

Whole-crop wheat treated with 40 kg urea/t/DM was examined in two experiments as the sole forage offered ad libitum. The objective was to evaluate the nutritive value of the forage, and the response in milk production to energy and protein supplements. In Experiment 1, 12 Holstein Friesian lactating cows in three 4 4 Latin squares were offered four concentrates, AÐ6 kg/day of 208 g CP kg/DM, BÐ...

Disorder in the 1D spinless Holstein model. Abstract: We investigate a spinless fermion system on a one dimensional lattice interacting locally with the optical modes of a quantized phonon field: the Holstein model. The system is shown to have a disordered ground state, for small enough coupling, at any density. This is in contrast to the non quantized phonon case, the static Holstein model, wh...

The temperature dependence of a charge mobility in a model DNA based on a Holstein Hamiltonian is calculated for four types of homogeneous sequences It has turned out that upon rescaling all four types are quite similar. Two types of rescaling, i.e., those for low and intermediate temperatures, are found. The curves obtained are approximated on a logarithmic scale by cubic polynomials. We belie...