Intake, digestibility and ruminal parameters of lambs fed with increasing levels of wheat bulgur.

The aim was to evaluate the effect of the inclusion of wheat bulgur in the diet on intake, digestibility, N balance and ruminal parameters in cannulated lambs. Four castrated Santa Ines×Dorper lambs, cannulated in the rumen, (45 ± 9 kg) were housed in metabolism crates. They were randomly distributed in a 4×4 Latin Square,10-day adaption, a 6-day sampling period. The base diet was composed by ryegrass hay and concentrate, in a 40:60 roughage:concentrate ratio and four inclusions of wheat bulgur on the total diet: 0, 190, 380 and 570 g/kg dry matter. The inclusion of wheat bulgur did not affect the intake of non-structural carbohydrates. The intake of dry matter, fiber, crude protein, organic matter and crude fat decreased linearly (P<0.05). The digestibility of neutral detergent fiber decreased linearly (P=0.001). The N retained and the excreted in urine were not affected by wheat bulgur inclusion. Fecal excretion, total excretion and absorbed N, decreased linearly (P<0.05). There was no change on pH, ammonia, soluble carbohydrates and protozoa population in rumen. Increasing of wheat bulgur in the diet of lambs decrease the nutrient intake and fiber digestibility without affecting the digestibility of other compounds, ruminal parameters, and the protozoa count.

Intramuscular Fat Prediction Using Color and Image Analysis of Bísaro Pork Breed.

This work presents an analytical methodology to predict meat juiciness (discriminant semi-quantitative analysis using groups of intervals of intramuscular fat) and intramuscular fat (regression analysis) in Longissimus thoracis et lumborum (LTL) muscle of Bísaro pigs using as independent variables the animal carcass weight and parameters from color and image analysis. These are non-invasive and non-destructive techniques which allow development of rapid, easy and inexpensive methodologies to evaluate pork meat quality in a slaughterhouse. The proposed predictive supervised multivariate models were non-linear. Discriminant mixture analysis to evaluate meat juiciness by classified samples into three groups-0.6 to 1.1%; 1.25 to 1.5%; and, greater than 1.5%. The obtained model allowed 100% of correct classifications (92% in cross-validation with seven-folds with five repetitions). Polynomial support vector machine regression to determine the intramuscular fat presented R2 and RMSE values of 0.88 and 0.12, respectively in cross-validation with seven-folds with five repetitions. This quantitative model (model's polynomial kernel optimized to degree of three with a scale factor of 0.1 and a cost value of one) presented R2 and RSE values of 0.999 and 0.04, respectively. The overall predictive results demonstrated the relevance of photographic image and color measurements of the muscle to evaluate the intramuscular fat, rarther than the usual time-consuming and expensive chemical analysis.

Effect of the Carer Support Needs Assessment Tool intervention (CSNAT-I) in the Danish specialised palliative care setting: a stepped-wedge cluster randomised controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: The Carer Support Needs Assessment Tool intervention (CSNAT-I) has been shown to improve end-of-life care support for informal caregivers. This study investigated the impact of the CSNAT-I on caregivers of patients recently enrolled in specialised palliative care (SPC) at home in Denmark. METHODS: A stepped-wedge cluster randomised controlled trial with nine clusters (ie, SPC teams). Outcome measures were collected using caregiver questionnaires at baseline (T0) and 2-week (T1) and 4-week (T2) follow-up. RESULTS: A total of 437 caregivers were enrolled (control group, n=255; intervention group, n=182). No intervention effect was found on the primary outcome, caregiver strain at T1 (p=0.1865). However, positive effects were found at T1 and T2 on attention to caregivers' well-being (p<0.0001), quality of information and communication (p<0.0001), amount of information (T1: p=0.0002; T2: p<0.0001), involvement (T1: p=0.0045; T2: p<0.0001), talking about greatest burdens (p<0.0001) and assistance in managing greatest burdens (p<0.0001). The effect sizes of these differences were medium or large and seemed to increase from T1 to T2. At T1, positive effects were found on distress (p=0.0178) and home care responsibility (p=0.0024). No effect was found on the remaining outcomes. CONCLUSION: Although no effect was found on caregiver strain, the CSNAT-I showed positive effects on caregiver distress, home care responsibility and key outcomes regarding caregivers' experience of the interaction with healthcare professionals. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT03466580.