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Predicting the parturition date in dogs by taking ultrasonographic foetometry has opened interesting research areas of veterinary obstetrics. Recently developed calculation formulas of inner ...chorionic cavity diameter (ICC) and biparietal diameter (BP) are formulas by Luvoni and Grioni (). This study is one of the first reports referring to ICC and BP with the use of Luvoni and Grioni formulas for predicting the parturition time in dogs of different body weight in clinical practice conditions. The research material consists of 70 clinically healthy pregnant bitches of 27 breeds and cross‐breeds. Bitches were divided into 4 groups according to their body weight. In each of the bitches, ultrasonographic examination of pregnancy was performed at least twice (ICC and BP measurements). Parturition dates for dogs with a body weight over 25 kg were calculated based on formulas intended for the group of medium dogs. It was caused by the lack of appropriate formulas for these groups of dogs. The predicting parturition dates were compared with the actual dates of delivery provided by the bitch owners. Generally, the results obtained in this study are very encouraging and similar or even better than those published by other authors using foetometric measurements. In our research, when comparing the effectiveness of predicting the delivery date based on foetometric formulas by Luvoni and Grioni (), it was proved that in all groups of dogs, even those over 25 kg, ICC and BP measurements at both accuracy levels were characterized similar reliability.
In this work, we report on the design and tests results of a coreless inductive SFCL with a 600 A rated current for MV distribution system. The fault current limiter comprises of 4 identical units ...immersed in liquid nitrogen bath. Each unit consists of 3 windings. The primary and secondary windings made of 2G HTS tape SF12050 are magnetically coupled with the primary Cu winding. The high magnetic coupling between superconducting primary and secondary windings gives a low voltage drop on the limiter at nominal current. The presented solution reduces the size and the weight of the device. Tests performed at high power test facility prove the limiting capability of the coreless inductive SFCL.
Early embryonic death (EED) is one of the causes of infertility in the mare. We compared endometrial environment in 9 mares with EED and 13 mares in diestrus phase. Cotton swab (CS), cytobrush (CB) ...and uterine biopsy (B) samples were obtained for the cytological, bacteriological and histopathological examinations. In the first step we compared CS and CB methods to biopsy as a reference method, as B revealed the highest number of positive results in cytological and bacteriological examinations in both groups. In turn, we also compared cytological, bacteriological and histopathological findings between EED and control animals using the B sampling. Although the differences between these groups were not statistically significant (p≥0.05), there was a tendency to a higher prevalence of subclinical endometritis in the control group, than in the EED group (62% vs 22%). In general, positive bacteriological results were similar in both groups (62% vs 55%), whereas positive cytological results were higher in the control group (62% vs 22%; p≥0.05). In histopathological examination in EED mares endometrial degeneration was better expressed (all mares were with grades IIB and III on the Kenney-Doig scale); however, the differences between both groups were not statistically significant (p≥0.05). We could not confirm a clear difference in uterine environment between the two groups. Moreover, the uterine biopsy seemed to be the most reasonable sampling method for diagnosis of endometrial state.
The scope of this article was to find the transient response of the 2G high-temperature superconducting (HTS) tape under alternating overcurrent. The authors performed a series of measurements for ...the SF12050 HTS tape produced by SuperPower Inc. The tape was fed by a 50-Hz ac voltage source with adjustable amplitude. The temporal dependences of the tape current and voltage drops in each test segment were recorded simultaneously. The measurements were performed for the current amplitudes exceeding the critical value specified by the manufacturer ( I c = 270 A @77 K, self-field). The instantaneous values of the tape temperature during overcurrent transient period were also determined. Additionally, the numerical analysis of the SF12050 tape was performed. A numerical model was built using PSPICE environment. The model assumes the nonlinear dependence of tape parameters in the function of temperature, as well as the variable cooling conditions during transient state. The constructed model was verified with measurement results.
The mechanisms governing corpus luteum (CL) function in domestic dogs remain not fully elucidated. The upregulated expression of cyclooxygenase 2 and prostaglandin (PG) E2 synthase (PGES) at the ...beginning of the canine luteal phase indicated their luteotrophic roles, and the steroidogenic activity of PGE2 in the early canine CL has been confirmed in vitro. Recently, by applying a cyclooxygenase 2 (COX2)-specific inhibitor (firocoxib Previcox; Merial) from the day of ovulation until the midluteal phase, the luteotrophic effects of PGs have been shown in vivo. This is a follow-up study investigating the underlying endocrine mechanisms associated with the firocoxib-mediated effects on the canine CL. Experimental groups were formed with ovariohysterectomies performed on Days 5, 10, 20, or 30 of firocoxib treatments (10 mg/kg bw/24h; TGs = treated groups). Untreated dogs served as controls. A decrease of steroidogenic acute regulatory (STAR) protein expression was observed in TGs. The expression of PGE2 synthase was significantly suppressed in TGs 5 and 10, and both PGE2 and PGF2α levels were decreased in luteal homogenates, particularly from CL in TG 5. Similarly, expression of the prolactin receptor (PRLR) was diminished in TGs 5 and 20. The expression of PGE2 receptors PTGER2 (EP2) and PTGER4 (EP4), the PG- transporter (PGT), and 15-hydroxy PG dehydrogenase (HPGD) was not affected in TGs. Our results substantiate a direct luteotrophic role of PGs in the early canine CL, i.e., by upregulating the steroidogenic machinery. Additionally, the possibility of an indirect effect on PRL function arises from the increased prolactin receptor expression in response to PGE2 treatment in canine lutein cells observed in vitro.
Selection of the applicable 2G superconducting tapes for transformer windings allows the use of a superconducting transformer to limit short-circuit currents in a power network and significantly ...reduce wear and tear of circuit breakers and other substation power equipment. In this case, the superconducting transformer can be regarded as an impedance coil whose impedance depends on the operating conditions of the superconducting windings. The impedance of the transformer in the superconducting state is small, equal to reactance of the superconducting windings. After a quench, which is caused by the growth of the short-circuit current, the impedance of the transformer increases, due to appearance of additional superconducting windings' resistance. The level to which the fault current is limited by the superconducting transformer depends on the operation characteristics of the superconducting windings and their construction and also on the parameters of the HTS tape used. This article presents the impact of the technical and operating parameters of commercially available 2G HTS tapes on the value of transformer's impedance after a quench. An example analysis was performed to compare the short-circuit impedance and steady-state fault currents of a conventional copper transformer with a superconducting transformers of equal nominal power.
We have performed large-scale calculations for the interaction energy of the stacked methyl adenine−methyl thymine complex at the CCSD(T)/aug-ccpVXZ (X = D,T) levels. The results can serve as ...benchmarks for the evaluation of two methods, MP2.5, introduced recently, and the widely used ΔCCSD(T) correction defined as the difference between the CCSD(T) and MP2 energies. Our results confirm that the ΔCCSD(T) correction converges much faster toward the complete basis set (CBS) limit than toward the MP2 or CCSD(T) energies. This justifies approximating the CBS energy by adding the ΔCCSD(T) correction calculated with a modest basis set to a large basis MP2 energy. The fast convergence of the ΔCCSD(T) correction is not obvious, as the individual CCSD and (T) contributions converge less rapidly than their sum. The MP2.5 method performs very well for this system, with results very close to CCSD(T). It is conjectured that using a ΔMP2.5 correction, defined analogously to ΔCCSD(T), with large basis sets may yield more reliable nonbonded interaction energies than using ΔCCSD(T) with a smaller basis set. This would result in important computational savings as the MP3 scales computationally much less steep than CCSD(T), although higher than SCS-MP2, a similar approximation.
