BACKGROUND High dietary intake of selenium or isoflavones reduces risk factors for prostate cancer. We tested whether combined supplementation of these two dietary components would reduce prostate cancer risk factors in rats more than supplementation of each component individually. METHODS Male Noble rat pups were exposed from conception to diets containing an adequate (0.33-0.45 mg/kg diet) ...

With companion animals, there is a large diversity in breeding practices, which may impact genetic variability and health of selected breeds. Based on a survey, we illustrate the specificities of scent hound dog breeders regarding either their breeding goals or their mating practices. Mating between close relatives are also investigated in different cat breeds. Such mating are more or less freq...

The spatio-temporal dynamics of amphibian populations and the models that describe them are largely influenced by the frequency of dispersal among breeding sites; however, dispersal has rarely been addressed rigorously in empirical studies. In a 7-year landscape-level investigation, we monitored breeding populations of marbled salamanders (Ambystoma opacum) among 14 seasonal ponds in western Ma...

solidarity rights, formally, introduced by karel vasak as new human rights in 1979. he suggested that these rights, based on the fraternity and solidarity, are vehicles for reforming international relations especially for moralization, socialization and humanization of international law. this article studies theoretical basis of solidarity rights and will discuss whether the approach of 'g...

Mixed linear models are assumed in most animal breeding applications. Convenient methods for computing BLUE of the estimable linear functions of the fixed elements of the model and for computing best linear unbiased predictions of the random elements of the model have been available. Most data available to animal breeders, however, do not meet the usual requirements of random sampling, the prob...

Challenges concerning fruit trees and grapevines as long lived woody perennial crops require adapted biotechnological approaches, if solutions are to be found within a reasonable time frame. These challenges are represented by the need for correct identification of genetic resources, with the foreseen use either in conservation or in breeding programmes. Molecular markers provide most accurate ...

Focused on the impact of stringent intellectual property mechanisms over the uses of plant agricultural biodiversity in crop improvement, the article delves into a systematic analysis of the relationship between institutional paradigms and their technological contexts of application, identified as mass selection, controlled hybridisation, molecular breeding tools and transgenics. While the stro...

In the future, breeders may apply reproductive, computational, and genomic methods to global populations nearly as easily as with national populations now. Dairy cattle breeders exchange traditional breeding values worldwide via Interbull, and new methods are outlined for exchanging either genomic evaluations or genotypes. Goals are to adapt multi-trait across country evaluation (MACE) in the s...

In South Africa, the Dairy Swiss breed, which originated in Switzerland, consists of 27 breeders and 1135 breeding cows. Pedigree information on the breed was analysed to determine its effective population size (Ne) and rate of inbreeding. The rate of inbreeding was 0.08% per year and 0.38% per generation. It was estimated that in 2008, over 90% of the animals were inbred. This is within the ac...