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Contents Chromosomal fragmentations or damage in sperm DNA has considerable value in determination of semen quality. However, rapid and/or simple method to assess sperm DNA integrity in buffalo has apparently not been reported. In the present study, SCD was used for the first time in buffalo bulls for assessment of sperm DNA fragmentation. A modified SCD protocol, under bright field microscope was developed and validated by comparison with other routine tests which can be used for processing of samples. The DNA fragmentation index (DFI) from SCD was correlated with semen quality parameters viz. viability (r = −0.68, p

Contents Spermatogonial stem cells transplantation provides a unique approach for studying spermatogenesis. Initially developed in mice, this technique has now been extended in farm animals and provides an alternative means to preserve valuable male germ line and to produce transgenic animals. The aim of this study was to enrich type A spermatogonial cells amongst the isolated cells from goat testis, to cryopreserve these enriched populations of cells and their subsequent transplantation in unrelated recipient goats under ultrasound guidance. The cells were isolated enzymatically and enriched by differential plating and separation on discontinuous percoll gradient. Ultrasound guided injection of trypan blue dye into rete testis resulted in 20–30% filling of the seminiferous tubules. Prior to transplantation, the cells were labelled with a fluorescent dye to trace donor cells in recipient seminiferous tubules after transplantation. The fluorescent-labelled cells were observed up to 12 weeks after transplantation.

The fragility of the CAPM has led to a resurgence of research that frequently uses trading strategies based on sorting procedures to uncover relations between firm characteristics (such as ?value? or ?glamour?) and equity returns. We examine the propensity of these strategies to generate statistically and economically significant profits due to our familiarity with the data. Under plausible assumptions, data snooping can account for up to 50 percent of the in-sample relations between firm characteristics and returns uncovered using single (one-way) sorts. The biases can be much larger if we simultaneously condition returns on two (or more) characteristics

The authors test whether the reaction of international stock markets to oil shocks can be justified by current and future changes in real cash flows and/or changes in expected returns. They find that, in the postwar period, the reaction of U.S. and Canadian stock prices to oil shocks can be completely accounted for by the impact of these shocks on real cash flows alone. In contrast, in both the United Kingdom and Japan, innovations in oil prices appear to cause larger changes in stock prices than can be justified by subsequent changes in real cash flows or by changing expected returns. Copyright 1996 by American Finance Association.

In this paper, we investigate the effects of relative price variability on output and the stock market and gauge the extent to which inflation proxies for relative price variability in stock return-inflation regressions. The evidence shows that the negative stock returninflation relations proxy for the adverse effects of relative price variability on economic activity, particularly during the seventies, when the U.S. experienced oil supply shocks. Hence, it appears that inflation spuriously affects the stock market in two ways: the aggregate output link of Fama (1981) and the supply shocks reflected in relative price variability. A NUMBER OF PAPERS have attempted to explain the anomalous negative relations between stock returns and inflation witnessed in the post-war period. One hypothesis that has held up well in light of empirical evidence suggests that the negative relation between stock returns and unexpected inflation simply reflects the more fundamental positive relation between stock returns and future real variables (see, e.g., Fama (1981), Geske and Roll (1983), and Kaul (1987, 1989)). In this paper, we investigate the effects of relative price variability on output and the stock market and gauge the extent to which inflation proxies for relative price variability in stock return-inflation regressions. First, relative price variability can have detrimental effects on output and employment (see, e.g., Friedman (1977) and Barro (1976)). Second, absolute-relative price confusion models of the Lucas (1973) type suggest that monetary shocks can induce a positive relation between inflation and relative price variability (see, e.g., Cukierman (1983)). Hence, the negative stock return-inflation relations could simply be a reflection of the negative effects of relative price variability on the stock market. We use data for the 1947-1985 period to test the various links of our hypothesis. The results indicate that relative price variability is positively related to both expected and unexpected inflation measures. Relative price variability also has a significant negative effect on output and the stock market. More importantly