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In the context of ecological crisis, agricultural issues become increasingly present in public debates and there is a call for to better understand the relations between farmers and nonhumans. Based on care theory and through an ethnographic study conducted on 20 winegrowers in Hérault (France), this article answers 3 questions: 1) How do farmers relate and care for nonhumans and the environment? 2) Do those relationships evolve? 3) How do farmer networks locally affect these relationships? The analysis shows: (1) that vine is the principle care-receiver in vineyards, but vinegrowers also form relationships with a diversity of other nonhuman entities; (2) that all those relationships can be transformed with increased attentiveness and experimental practices at the plot and edge scale of vineyards; and (3) that an increase in the observation and contemplation of nonhumans can develop through farmers' participation in different environmental programs. In conclusion, the article indicates the relevance of both the use of care theory in order to study the complexity of farmers' relations with nonhumans, and the key-role of bottom-up collective initiatives among farmers in biodiversity conservation. • Winegrowers care for vines but relate with other nonhumans within vineyards. • Relations with nonhumans transform with time through evolving farming practices. • The ways farmers take care of nonhumans evolve towards more attentive modes of care. • Those transformations involve specific care spatialities (plots and edges). • Environmental programs based on observations of nonhumans contribute to those transformations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objectives of this study were to describe alterations that age and dietary inclusion of direct-fed microbial (DFM) Bacillus subtilis (BS) and a specific essential oil (EO) blend (carvacrol, cinnamaldehyde, cineol, and pepper extract) causes in the activity of digestive enzymes (maltase: MALT; aminopeptidase-N: APN; intestinal alkaline phosphate: IAP) and expression patterns of genes related to transport (oligopeptide transporter gene: SLC15A1; Na+-dependent glucose and galactose transporter gene: SLC5A1; Na+-independent glucose, galactose, and fructose transporter gene: SLC2A2; ATPase, Na+/K+ transporting gene: ATP1A1) and digestion (aminopeptidase-N gene: ANPEP; maltase-glucoamylase gene: MGAM; Sucrase-isomaltase gene: SI) of carbohydrates and proteins in the small intestine of broilers. Also, the objective was to analyze if growth performance of broilers is affected by supplementation (BS and EO blend). Day-old male broiler chicks (n = 1,320) were assigned to 5 treatments. Diets included a basal diet (BD) as a negative control (CON); experimental diets were BD + BS; BD + BS + EO; BD + EO; BD + antibiotic growth promoter (AGP) avilamycin was the positive control. Performance was evaluated between 1 to 42 d. Transcript abundance of transport-related genes and digestion-related genes were assayed by RT-qPCR and determined at d 7, 21, and 42. MALT-, APN-, and IAP-specific activities were determined at d 7, 21, and 42. Broilers fed BS had greater SLC15A1 mRNA abundance compared to CON, while EO and AGP were related to higher activities of IAP and APN. Analysis over time revealed higher abundance of MGAM, SLC2A2, SLC15A1, SLC5A1 and SI mRNA at d 42 when compared to d 7. Activity of IAP decreased after d 7 and activity of MALT increased with age. The current study suggests that age had effect over carbohydrate and protein transport and carbohydrate digestion. The supplementation of BS DFM hade evident effect over protein transport and that the use of EO in the diet enhanced the activities of carbohydrate and protein digestion, reflecting improvement in digestive and transport physiology of birds. Changes performed by BS DFM and EO did not favor performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among the strategies to prevent sudden cardiac death is the implantation of the implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) in patients with ventricular tachyarrhythmias or at risk of suffering them. The database of cardiac defibrillators and resynchronizers of the medical center was reviewed between the years 2000 to 2015, assessing the PACE and MADIT scores at the time of first implantation and the mortality rate at three years of follow-up. Of the patients with ICD, cardiac resynchronizer (CRT) and cardiac resynchronizer with defibrillator (CRT-ICD), the 3-year mortality was 45.54%, 27.92% and 40.00% respectively, with the following distribution by score. When observing the data obtained, it can be seen that the mortality rate increases linearly according to the score obtained on the PACE and MADIT II scales for patients with ICD and that it coincides with that reported in the literature. Likewise, it can be seen that the trend presented in patients with CRT and CRT-ICD follows the same trend. It was decided to measure the degree of relationship that exists between the results obtained in the group of patients with ICD and those with CRT and CRT-ICD applying the Pearson correlation coefficient statistical test. The results were that between the group of In patients with ICD and the group of patients with CRT, the Pearson correlation coefficient for the PACE scale was 0.753 and for the MADIT II scale it was 0.788; and between the group of patients with ICD and the group of patients with CRT Pearson's correlation coefficient for the PACE scale was 0.837 and for the MADIT II score it was 0.724 (Fig. 1). Patients with 3 points on the MADIT score and 2 points on the PACE score had a higher mortality rate and could be considered as a cut-off point for the selection of patients considered for their first implantation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Experimental studies have shown that hatching rate depends, among other factors, on the main physical characteristics of the eggs. The physical parameters used in our work were egg weight, eggshell thickness, egg sphericity, and yolk per albumen ratio. The relationships of these parameters in the incubation process were modeled by Fuzzy logic. The rules of the Fuzzy modeling were based on the analysis of the physical characteristics of the hatching eggs and the respective hatching rate using a commercial hatchery by applying a trapezoidal membership function into the modeling process. The implementations were performed in software. Aiming to compare the Fuzzy with a statistical modeling, the same data obtained in the commercial hatchery were analyzed using multiple linear regression. The estimated parameters of multiple linear regressions were based on a backward selection procedure. The results showed that the determination coefficient and the mean square error were higher using the Fuzzy method when compared with the statistical modeling. Furthermore, the predicted hatchability rates by Fuzzy Logic agreed with hatching rates obtained in the commercial hatchery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Results after 5 Years of Sustained Growth. Pancreas Transplantation in Clinica Santa María, Chile. [Extracted from the article]