Mean Total Gain Research Articles

The role of vertical semicircular canal function in the vertical component of skull vibration-induced nystagmus

Background: Generally, vertical component of the skull vibratory nystagmus (VCN) is ignored in the clinical practise. Thus, the relative contribution of the vestibular organs in the presence of VCN remains unknown.Objectives: To determine the association between vertical semicircular canal (vSCC) function and the presence of VCN.Material and methods: Comparisons were made between Video Head Impulse Test and SVINT (100 Hz) results at the time of the acute peripheral vestibular lesion (PVL) and at the post-acute phase in patients diagnosed PVL. Later on, a paired analysis was performed restricting the assessments to patients with vestibular explorations in both the acute and post-acute phases.Results: In an univariable analysis, larger mean total gain differences (TGD) between vSCC VOR gains, significantly related with the appearance of VCN in nystagmography in the acute phase (p = .001), unlike the post-acute phase (p = .46). After a multivariate analysis, mean TGD was the only predictive factor of the VCN (p = .013). In the paired analysis, we found an increase in the post-acute phase mean TGD, approaching zero value.Conclusions and significance: Global relation between all vertical canals has at least a contributory role in the presence of the vertical component of nystagmus in SVINT.

Performance and economic viability of young bulls submitted to different supplements

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of two energy protein supplementation protocols on performance and economic viability of Nellore bulls calves from weaning to pasture finishing. Nellore calves with 8 months of age, mean weight 285.16 ± 22.74 kg, belonging to the Fronteira Farm municipality of Porto Murtinho, Mato Grosso do Sul, were evaluated between May 2015 and September 2016. Analysis, between the treatments for final weight, mean total gain and average daily weight gain. Steers supplemented with Protocol 2 consumed more dry matter (807.57 kg) and Protocol 1 animals (427.03 kg). As this level of dry matter consumption there was also an increase in the amount of crude protein supplied to Protocol 2 in 320.17 kg. The highest total income observed was Protocol 1 (R $ 2,868.90), this result is associated with the higher final weight and the carcass yield of 52.6% after slaughter, although Protocol 2 presented higher carcass yield (54%). It is concluded that the supplementation of Protocol 1 was more efficient for performance; however the total revenue was insufficient to pay the production costs, generating a negative profitability due to the expense of supplementation in the experimental period.

The Column Procedure

Thirty-eight elbows (thirty-seven patients) with an extrinsic contracture were treated operatively with a limited lateral approach to the anterior and posterior aspects of the capsule. Because the procedure elevates muscles from the anterior and posterior aspects of the lateral supracondylar osseous ridge, we called it the column procedure. The mean preoperative arc of flexion was 49 degrees (from 52 to 101 degrees). At a mean of forty-three months (range, twenty-four to seventy-four months) postoperatively, the mean arc of flexion was 94 degrees (from 27 to 121 degrees). The mean total gain in the arc of flexion-extension was 45 degrees; thirty-four elbows (89 percent) had an improved range of motion at the latest follow-up examination. Overall, thirty-one elbows (82 percent) had a satisfactory result. Greater improvement was obtained in elbows that had had severe stiffness (a total arc of 31 to 60 degrees) or very severe stiffness (a total arc of 30 degrees or less) or that had had a combined flexion and extension contracture. A complication occurred in four elbows (11 percent). A hematoma developed in two elbows and impaired the final outcome in one of them. Two elbows had transient ulnar paresthesia, which resolved spontaneously. The arc of flexion obtained at the time of the operation was lost in ten elbows (26 percent) after an initial period of improvement; at the latest follow-up evaluation, four of these elbows had a mean decrease in the arc of flexion of 24 degrees compared with preoperatively. The column procedure is associated with a low rate of complications and is safe and effective for the treatment of a limitation in flexion or extension resulting from an extrinsic contracture of the elbow.

Outcome of a four-year randomized study of daily versus three times weekly somatropin treatment in prepubertal naive growth hormone-deficient children. Genentech Study Group.

A comparison was made of the growth responses of prepubertal naive GH-deficient children who were randomly assigned to receive 0.3 mg/kg.week recombinant human GH administered either daily (QD) or three times weekly (TIW) over 4 yr. The effects of the two regimens on annual growth velocity, change in height SD score, bone maturation, and age at onset of puberty are presented as the mean +/- SD. During each of the 4 yr, the annual growth velocity was significantly greater in the QD vs. TIW group. At 48 months, the mean total gain in height was 9.7 cm greater in the QD group (38.4 +/- 5.5) than that in the TIW group 28.7 +/- 3.2; P = 0.0002). The mean height SD score at the end of each year was significantly greater in the QD group. After 4 yr, the total gain in height SD score was 3.2 +/- 1.2 in the QD group compared to 1.5 +/- 0.5 in the TIW group (P = 0.0003). The height SD score at 4 yr was 0.2 in the QD group (pretreatment, -2.9) compared to -1.4 in the TIW group (pretreatment, -2.9). After 4 yr of rhGH treatment, the increment in bone age was similar in the QD (4.9 +/- 1.0 yr) and TIW (4.8 +/- 1.1 yr) groups. The change in height age minus the change in bone age was more favorable in the QD (1.2 +/- 0.8 yr) than in the TIW (0.0 +/- 0.9 yr) group (P = 0.003). The mean age at onset of puberty in boys was the same in the QD (13.2 yr) and TIW (13.0 yr) groups (P = 0.71), and the mean bone age at the start of puberty was also similar (11.5 in QD and 11.3 in TIW groups; P = 0.66). The advantages of QD rhGH treatment in prepubertal GH-deficient children after 4 yr were additional gains of 1.7 height SD score and 9.7 cm in height over those treated with the TIW regimen (P = 0.0002).

The performance of beef animals on a permanent pasture*

AbstractBetween 1967 and 1975, 416 beef animals were grazed rotationally on an indigenous pasture (11.65 ha) containing Festuca rubra, Holcus lanatus, Poa trivialis and Agrostis spp. and dicotyledonous plants, but little Lolium perenne or Trifolium repens. Part of the land received fertilizer nitrogen at rates varying between 120 and 200 kg h−1 each year and part did not; some of the land was grazed only and some was cut and then grazed.The winter gains of the animals (approx. 45 kg) were more variable and less than the summer gains (approx. 155 kg). Summer gain was inversely correlated with winter gain. An increase in initial weight of animals purchased from 1973 onwards did not increase either winter or summer gain. Friesians gained more than Hereford‐cross animals during the winter, but there was no difference in summer gain.During 9 years the average animal weight per grazed ha in April was increased from 1260 to 2122 kg. The mean total gain on 1165 ha of grass was 6486 kg per annum in the first 3 years and 7266 kg per annum in the last 3 years. The average annual production was 590 kg live‐weight gain and 1.01 t hay or 2.33 t silage per ha. The output of fertilized grass in 1975 was calculated as 842 Livestock Unit Grazing Days (LUGD) per ha and that from unfertilized grass as 360 LUGD per ha. The overall output of utilized metabolizable energy in 1975 was 59–7 GJ h−1, with 69.3 GJ h−1 from fertilized grass and 29.8 GJ h−1 from unfertilized grass.