Ex situ conservation of genetic material from livestock and fish through cryopreservation is an important strategy to conserve genetic diversity in these species. Conservation strategies benefit from advances in cryopreservation and reproductive technologies. Choice of type of genetic material to be preserved for different species highly depends on objectives, technical feasibility (e.g., colle...

Gradient descent techniques such as back propagation have been used effectively to train neural network connection weights; however, in some applications gradient information may not be available. Biologically inspired genetic algorithms provide an alternative. Unfortunately, early attempts to use genetic algorithms to train connection weights demonstrated that exchanging genetic material betwe...

The maintenance of female polyandry has traditionally been attributed to the material (direct) benefits derived from male mating resources (e.g. nuptial gifts) accrued by multiple mating. However, genetic (indirect) benefits offer a more robust explanation since only polyandrous, not monandrous, females may gain both material benefits from multiple mating and genetic benefits from multiple sire...

Cross-reacting factor IX material (CRM) was immunologically detected in the plasma of 38 normal individuals and 21 out of 22 haemophilia B patients using a rabbit antibody to factor IX. The same reacting material was detected in only nine of these patients using a human antibody. These results indicate that the plasma of the majority of haemophilia B patients contains a protein-lacking biologic...

In the second half of the 20 century, the prenatal diagnosis armamentarium changed dramatically with the introduction of amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling. Both modalities are, however, invasive techniques and carry a certain risk, albeit low (0.5–1%), of pregnancy loss [1]. Routine noninvasive methods of prenatal diagnosis include firstand second-trimester ultrasonography and materna...