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PubMed1989

[The effect of different high levels of soy extract pellets in the ration on the digestibility of crude nutrients, basic and sulfur-containing amino acids of wheat in colostomized laying hybrids].

In two digestibility experiments with 4 colostomized laying hybrids each, the influence of 12.5% (ration 1) and 25% soybean meal (ration 2) on the digestibility of the crude nutrients, the basic and sulphur-containing amino acids in the wheat rations was tested. In ration 1 the digestibility of the crude protein was 84.9%, of the crude fat 56.6% and that of the N-free extractives 87.4%; for ration 2 the values were 83.6%, 47.4% and 82.5%. The digestibility values for wheat acquired with the difference method for ration 1 were 85.7% for crude protein, 57.0% for crude fat and 89.8% for N-free extractives; energy concentration was 766 EFUhens. For wheat supplemented with 25% soybean meal the same digestibility value of the crude protein could be ascertained, the digestibility of the crude fat and the N-free extractives, however, was lower than for ration 1 so that an energy concentration lower by 3.9% was calculated. The possible causes of the influence of the different levels of lysine and thioamino acids on the digestibility of these amino acids of wheat are described.

Amino Acids↗
PubMed1991

[The energetic utilization of rations with dried concentrates, potatoes, sugar beets, apple pectin and cane sugar by growing, intact and ileorectostomized swine. 1. Results in swine with ileorectal anastomoses].

Rations with dried feedstuffs and rations with between 30 and 50% raw potatoes in the dry matter as well as steamed potatoes and sugar beets, sucrose and apple pectin were tested in measurings of the total metabolism in growing pigs with ileo-rectal anastomoses. The prececal digestibility of the energy of the rations ranged between 42% (rations with raw potatoes) and 79% (rations with sucrose). The digestibility of the rations with a 50% quota of steamed potatoes was better by 30%--units than that of rations with raw potatoes. In addition to crude nutrient digestibility, data are given on the digestibility of starch, water soluble carbohydrates and pectin. The wide variation in the N retention of 6-25 g/animal.day can only be partly connected with energy retention. Urine energy amounted to between 2.5 and 5% of gross energy. The average utilization of metabolizable energy amounted to 69.4%. A connection is to be seen with the value of energy maintenance requirement of 646 kJ retention energy/kg LW0.62.d.

Anastomosis, Surgical↗
PubMed2005

Modes of rationality in nursing documentation: biology, biography and the 'voice of nursing'.

This article is based on a discourse analysis of the complete nursing records of 45 patients, and concerns the modes of rationality that mediated text-based accounts relating to patient care that nurses recorded. The analysis draws on the work of the critical theorist, Jurgen Habermas, who conceptualised rationality in the context of modernity according to two types: purposive rationality based on an instrumental logic, and value rationality based on ethical considerations and moral reasoning. Our analysis revealed that purposive rationality dominated the content of nursing documentation, as evidenced by a particularly bio-centric and modernist construction of the workings of the body within the texts. There was little reference in the documentation to central themes of contemporary nursing discourses, such as notions of partnership, autonomy, and self-determination, which are associated with value rationality. Drawing on Habermas, we argue that this nursing documentation depicted the colonisation of the sociocultural lifeworld by the bio-technocratic system. Where nurses recorded disagreements that patients had with medical regimes, the central struggle inherent in the project of modernity became transparent--the tension between the rational and instrumental control of people through scientific regulation and the autonomy of the subject. The article concludes by problematising communicative action within the context of nursing practice.

Aged↗
PubMed2001

Influence of free-choice vs mixed-ration diets on food intake and performance of fattening calves.

Research findings and management recommendations typically emphasize responses of the "average" individual, yet more than half of the animals in a group may differ significantly from the mean regarding food preference and intake. The productivity of a herd may be adversely affected if animals differing from the mean are fed a uniform diet formulated to meet the needs of the "average" individual. We compared the intake and performance of beef calves offered a choice or no choice among foods. Diets consisted of ad libitum access to either a chopped, mixed ration of rolled barley (31.3%), rolled corn (31.3%), corn silage (15.5%), and alfalfa hay (18.9%) (n = 16 calves) or a choice among those foods offered individually (n = 15 calves). Averaged across the 63-d trial, the two groups did not differ in ratios of protein to energy ingested (43 vs 43 g CP/Mcal ME; P = 0.50), but preference for foods high in energy or protein varied markedly for animals fed free-choice: on d 21 they had protein:energy ratios higher than those of animals fed the mixed ration, on d 2 the ratios were equal, and on d 40 they had protein:energy ratios lower than those of animals fed the mixed ration. Throughout the trial, no two animals consistently chose the same ingredients, and none selected a diet similar to the nutritionally balanced mixed ration, yet each animal ate a diet adequate to meet its needs. Animals offered the mixed ration tended to eat more than animals offered a choice (109 vs 102 g/kg MBW/d; P = 0.10), but they did not gain at a faster rate (0.89 vs 0.92 kg/d; P = 0.65). Gain/unit of food consumed also was similar for both groups (0.09 vs 0.10 kg/kg; P = 0.38). However, food cost/day was higher for animals fed the mixed ration than for those offered a choice ($1.58 vs $1.36; P = 0.03). Consequently, cost/kilograms of gain was higher for the mixed ration than for the choice group ($1.84 vs $1.49/kg; P = 0.045). These findings suggest that 1) animals can more efficiently meet their individual needs for macronutrients when offered a choice among dietary ingredients than when constrained to a single diet, even if it is nutritionally balanced; 2) transient food aversions compound the inefficiency of a single mixed diet by depressing intake even among animals suited to that nutritional profile; and 3) alternative feeding practices may allow producers to efficiently capitalize on the agency of animals, thus reducing illness and improving performance.

Animal Feed↗
PubMed1980

Addition of sodium bicarbonate to rations of pre- and postpartum dairy cows.

Sodium bicarbonate was added to complete mixed rations to evaluate the effect of buffer addition on adaptation to high-energy rations by dairy cows in elderly lactation. Forty-five Holstein cows were assigned to one of three treatment groups: control pre- and postpartum; control prepartum, buffer postpartum; and buffer pre- and postpartum. Rations consisted of 85% chopped grass hay: 15% concentrate prepartum and 60% corn silage:40% concentrate postpartum. On day 4 postpartum, cows were switched abruptly to the postpartum ration for 9 wk. Buffered rations contained .6% sodium bicarbonate prepartum and .7% postpartum. Daily dry matter intake as a percent of body weight for cows fed buffer postpartum (3.51%) was greater than for cows fed no buffer (3.04%) of buffer pre- and postpartum (3.14%). Average production of 4% fat-corrected milk was greater for cows fed buffer postpartum and buffer pre- and postpartum (31.9 kg/day and 31.7 kg/day) than for cows fed no buffer (28.9 kg/day). Milk fat tests were not different. Cows fed the buffered rations lost body weight between wk 1 and 9 as compared to a net gain for cows fed no buffer. Cows fed buffers consumed more dry matter during wk 1 than did cows fed no buffer. Samples of rumen fluid, feces, and serum showed few differences that could be attributed to treatments. Compared to controls, cows fed sodium bicarbonate adapted to rations more rapidly postpartum as indicated by increased feed intake during the first 2 wk and by increased milk production during the first 4 wk of the trial.

Animal Feed↗
PubMed1990

Lactation response of dairy cows receiving bovine somatotropin and fed rations varying in crude protein and undegradable intake protein.

Our experiment evaluated lactation and metabolic responses of Holstein cows injected with somidobove (recombinant bST) and fed one of four isocaloric rations containing either 14 (low) or 17% (high) CP and undegradable intake protein of 33 (low) or 40% (high) of CP. Multiparous cows (n = 37) in early lactation, averaging 37 kg/d of milk, received somidobove (640 mg per injection) at 28-d intervals for 112 d and one of four protein rations: low-low, low-high, high-low, and high-high. Nine other multiparous controls were fed low-low ration with no somidobove. On the low-low ration, somidobove significantly increased milk yield by 2.3 kg/d, but not 3.5% FCM (1.7 kg/d), intakes of DM or CP, or milk composition. Milk and 3.5% FCM increased by 1.7 and 2.1 kg/d in cows fed high undegradable intake protein but there was no effect on milk composition, BW, or DM intake. Ration CP had no effect on production variables in cows receiving somidobove. Serum urea was higher in cows fed high CP rations; undegradable intake protein was without effect. Plasma leucine was higher in cows fed high undegradable intake protein. Administration of somidobove to cows fed low-low rations reduced plasma methionine, serum albumin, hemoglobin, and albumin:globulin ratio. Milk production of high producing dairy cows receiving somidobove may be limited by the amount of protein available at the small intestine.

Animal Feed↗
PubMed1991

Effect of moisture in total mixed rations on feed consumption and milk production and composition in Holstein cows.

The DM levels in total mixed rations were maintained at 62.7, 52.8, and 45.8% by incorporating 38% of the DM from alfalfa silages of twi different DM contents into the ration to determine the effect on milk production and composition when fed to lactating Holstein cows. The alfalfa silages were stored at approximately 25 and 50% DM and harvested from the same field on consecutive days either direct-cut and bagged or wilted overnight before bagging. Silages were used (minimum of 8.5 kg of Dm/d) in a total mixed ration formulated to be isonitrogenous (using cottonseed meal) and isocaloric and fed to 144 lactating cows randomly allotted into three equal groups based on days in milk (initially 33 d), lactation number, and pretrial 3.5% FCM production. Yields of 3.5% FCM were 35.3, 35.7 and 35.4 kg, respectively, for the dry, intermediate, and wet rations and were not significantly different. Consumption of DM tended to decline as DM content of the ration decreased, but the decrease was not significant. Results showed that total mixed ration moisture levels evaluated in this trial had no significant effects on consumption of DM of isonitrogenous rations or milk yield and composition.

Animals↗
PubMed1993

The efficacy of using prelay and early-lay rations for brown-egg pullets.

Experiments were conducted using two brown-egg strains to determine whether additional calcium or CP is required by these pullets prior to sexual maturity (prelay) and whether increased CP during the early part of production (early lay) would improve overall performance. In Experiment 1, the prelay treatments were arranged at a 2 x 3 factorial arrangement with two levels of CP (15 or 17%) and three levels of calcium (.9, 1.8, or 3.5%) and given to the pullets from 18 to 20 wk of age. From 20 to 26 wk of age, pullets were given either a 17 or 19% CP ration with 3.5% calcium, resulting in a total of 12 treatments. There were no significant effects of the prelay or early-lay rations on eggs per hen housed, hen-day percentage production (HDP), or feed efficiency. Egg weight was significantly improved using the 17% prelay ration at 26, 28, and 31 wk of age, but adversely affected by the higher levels of CP in the early-lay ration at 28 and 31 wk of age. Increasing calcium in the prelay ration had only minimal effects on egg size distribution. Experiment 2 consisted of a 3 x 2 factorial arrangement of treatments with three levels of prelay CP (15, 17, or 19%) and two levels of early-lay CP (17 or 19%) and given to the pullets from 18 to 20 to 41 wk of age, respectively. There was a significant improvement in HDP from 30 to 41 wk of age using the 19% CP prelay ration. Egg size distribution was not significantly affected by either the prelay or the early-lay rations at 35 wk of age.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMed1998

Effect of duration of fasting and a short-term high-roughage ration on the concentration of Escherichia coli biotype 1 in cattle feces.

A field trial using cattle from a commercial feedlot was conducted to quantify the effect of duration of fasting and a temporary change in ration on the concentration of Escherichia coli biotype 1 in feces. A nested hierarchical design with repeated measures through time was used. Two groups of 20 British x European breed beef steers having reached slaughter weight (mean live weight 685 kg; SD 50 kg) were fed entirely on a high-energy ration typical of that used in the Ontario beef finishing industry or were switched for 4 days onto a high-roughage ration. This was followed by a period of fasting and water deprivation to mimic that which occurs prior to slaughter. Fecal samples were collected at 0, 24, and 48 h of fasting, and for each sample the total presumptive E. coli (biotype 1) CFU/g of feces was enumerated by spiral plating. Estimates of effect for the design factors were obtained by restricted maximum likelihood, and these were compared to robust counterparts obtained from generalized estimating equations. Results indicated that the ration, the duration of fasting, and their interaction had significant effects on total log E. coli concentration in feces. Cattle on the high-roughage ration for four days had a significantly lower initial log E. coli CFU/g of feces compared to cattle on the normal ration, but after 48 h of fasting they had a significantly higher concentration. It is concluded that while a temporary change in ration and duration of fasting does affect E. coli concentration in feces, these changes do not seem large enough to deliver a drastic improvement in beef carcass hygiene should they be incorporated in hazard analysis and critical control point (HACCP) plans for the preslaughter period of beef production.

Animal Feed↗
PubMed1991

Influence of an omega-3 fatty acid-enriched ration on in vivo responses of horses to endotoxin.

Because certain inflammatory processes are dependent on the fatty acid composition of the cellular membrane, dietary manipulations that replace omega-6 fatty acids with omega-3 fatty acids may modify inflammatory responses. We investigated the effect of supplemental dietary linseed oil, containing the omega-3 fatty acid, alpha-linolenic acid, on in vivo responses of horses to endotoxin. One group of horses (n = 6) was fed a control pelleted ration (0% linseed oil), and another group of horses (n = 6) was fed an 8% linseed oil pelleted ration. After 8 weeks of consuming these rations, all horses were given 0.03 micrograms of Escherichia coli 055:B5 endotoxin/kg of body weight, infused over 30 minutes. Horses were monitored over 24 hours. Compared with baseline values within each ration group, endotoxin infusion caused significant (P less than 0.05) increase in rectal temperature, heart rate, and plasma concentration of thromboxane B2, 6-keto-prostaglandin F1 alpha, and fibrinogen and significant (P less than 0.05) decrease in total WBC count. Compared with baseline values within each ration group, endotoxin infusion failed to cause significant changes in prothrombin, activated partial thromboplastin, thrombin, or whole blood recalcification times, serum concentration of fibrin degradation products, PCV, or plasma total protein concentration. Before and after endotoxin infusion, horses given the linseed oil ration had longer mean whole blood recalcification time and activated partial thromboplastin time than did horses fed the control ration.

6-Ketoprostaglandin F1 alpha↗
PubMed1990

[Nutritional value of daily food rations reproduced in several regions of the country. Part II. Nutritional value of protein].

The amount and quality of protein were determined in daily food rations of workers, including blue collar and white collar ones, which were reproduced in the laboratory on the basis of the data provided by the Central Statistical Bureau concerning the mean annual food consumption in 1986 (studies on household budgets). The amount of protein in the daily food ration of blue collar workers was higher (76 g) than in the families of white collar workers (68 g). The amount of energy provided by protein (12%) and the degree of coverage of the requirements for protein (mean 92%) were similar in both rations. The nutritional value of protein expressed as the NPU coefficient of protein utilization was relatively low in both rations (mean 66%). A comparison of these food rations in the years 1973, 1980, 1981 and 1986 showed that in 1980 the rations had the highest protein content (mean 93 g daily)--the highest proportion of protein-derived energy (mean 14%) and the highest proportion of protein requirement coverage (mean 120%). The nutritional value of protein (NPU, mean value 71%) was similar to that in 1973 and 1981. As compared to the preceding years the food rations in 1986 showed the lowest coverage of protein requirements and lower nutritional value as expressed with the NPUop index. A high correlation was found between the amino acid composition of dietary protein obtained by chemical analysis and those calculated from the Tables of Composition and Nutritional Value of Food Products.

Dietary Proteins↗
PubMed1987

[Optimizing ruminant feed rations from the physiological aspect with FURAT, a personal computer program].

Health disorders caused by feeding are a common problem in cattle keeping. For this reason the personal computer program, FURAT, was developed for the calculation and optimization of ruminant feed rations with respect to physiological aspects. With this program, weighed feed rations selected from the feedstuff on the standard list or from a self-drawn up feedstuff list can be tested for their content of various nutrients and compared with the requirements of the animals to be fed. Subsequently in an optimization program using the same feedstuff rations can be worked out for various performance categories ensuring the best possible feeding from the health aspect. With a free choice within a feed range and taking into account the physiological limits of the rumen (maximum compound intake, minimum raw fiber amount in the dry matter, minimum structure in the raw fiber, maximum raw fat in the dry matter) the ration is calculated to achieve a balanced protein-energy ratio. One of the two main nutrients--protein or energy--must amount exactly to the target value in the ration, and the other has to be as close as possible to its target value. From among up to 12 different feedstuff the computer will choose the optimal ration which can be printed with a precise indication of all parameters. The rations worked out for the various performance categories are stored and, at the end of the program, are printed in short form in a letter addressed to the farmer that also lists necessary mineral supplements.

Animal Feed↗
PubMed1995

[Cadmium content in daily food rations of rural school-age children].

Cadmium was determined in 230 daily food rations of children aged 8-9 years and 12-13 years. The study was carried out in spring and in autumn during three successive days. Daily meals were collected from the households selected in the area of five villages. Cadmium was determined by the extraction ASA method, after dry mineralization at about 450 degrees C. The level of cadmium in the examined food rations varied from 6 to 569 micrograms/person/day, with the mean value of 43.5 +/- 52.6 micrograms/person/day, and the median of 31.3 micrograms. In 93% of food rations the amount of cadmium was below the upper limit--the dose permitted by the WHO for adults i.e. 57-71 micrograms/day. Considering the children's smaller body weight the daily cadmium intake in food rations was converted into the daily cadmium intake per 1 kilogram body weight. In the group of children aged 8-9 years cadmium intake was 0.3-15 micrograms, with the mean value of 1.7 micrograms, and in the group of 12-13-years-old children it was 0.1-13.9 micrograms, with the mean of 1.3 micrograms. Only 36% of food rations in the group of younger children and 58% of food rations in the older group contained the amount of cadmium below the tolerable value of 1 microgram/kg body weight/day. The weekly cadmium intake was calculated for each child based on its amount in daily food rations during the successive three days. The mean value was 12.3 micrograms/kg body weight, with the median of 8.1 micrograms, within the range of values 2.1-58.8 micrograms.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adolescent↗
PubMed1993

Effects of ration and Fasciola infection on some blood parameters of ewes.

This study was conducted using fourty cross-bred ewes in 5 groups of which one was kept as a control and the others were infected with metacercariae of Fasciola gigantica twice at the beginning of the experiment and 200 days from the first. The four infected groups fed on basal ration or high protein ration with or without mineral mixture. Blood samples were taken from the five groups to assess the concentrations of plasma fibrinogen and serum total proteins, albumin, globulin, calcium and inorganic phosphorous. Results indicated that ewes total serum protein, albumin and globulin were decreased by Fasciola infection. The decrease was only significant in ewes fed basal ration with or without mineral mixture. Mineral mixture had no effect on the later blood parameters of infected ewes although little improvement in blood serum globulin was noticed. Plasma fibrinogen decreased significantly by infection. The level of plasma fibrinogen was improved by feeding high protein ration but did not affect by adding mineral mixture to any of the ration used. Infection was also found to decrease blood serum inorganic phosphorous but not calcium level. Feeding high protein ration with or without mineral supplement maintained blood serum inorganic phosphorous as that of the uninfected ewes. Blood serum calcium to phosphorous ratio of ewes fed only basal ration was significantly higher than that of other groups.

Animal Feed↗
PubMed1998

Rationing dialysis in the United States: possible implications of capitated systems.

The application of managed care to dialysis raises concerns that dialysis will be rationed in the United States. Rationing means the implicit or explicit denial of beneficial or marginally beneficial medical treatment as a result of insufficient resources to provide treatment to all. In this era of cost containment and budget cutting, rationing appears inevitable in the end-stage renal disease program because of its continued growth in numbers and cost and because many are questioning the benefit of dialysis to certain groups of patients. Rationing according to social worth, ability to pay, or age is not ethically justifiable, but it is justified to ration according to medical benefit. There is an important role for guidelines developed with broad input from patients, families, health care professionals, ethicists, health policy experts, and payers. Consensus statements exist in the literature, and the nephrology community is in the process of developing practice guidelines that will be available for future use. In the meantime, managed care companies should look to broader community input in the form of consensus statements and community dialogue. Managed care companies will need ethics committees to ensure that their policies and procedures for rationing are fair, principled, and subject to review and appeal.

Ethics, Medical↗
PubMed1998

Equity and rationing in the NHS: past to present.

AIM: This paper explores the historical and political basis of equity and rationing in the British National Health Service (NHS). BACKGROUND: Rationing has always featured in the NHS as an implicit, rather than explicit process. Recent healthcare reforms have highlighted the inequity of healthcare provision in the UK and made the rationing debate more explicit. ORIGINS OF INFORMATION: Information is drawn from a variety of sources which include research studies, review articles and books, policy documents and personal experience of working in the NHS. KEY ISSUES: The search for efficiency in the new NHS is in conflict with the principle of equity and the most vulnerable groups in society are being denied access to healthcare. Decisions about rationing are currently made at a local rather than a national level resulting in variability of health service provision, an inconsistency which will continue with the development of primary care groups. CONCLUSIONS: Rationing of healthcare resources is thought to be inevitable as demands for healthcare increase in a funds-limited service. Rationing of resources is a political problem that requires some form of guidance from central government.

Decision Making, Organizational↗
PubMed2001

On the impossibility of predicting the behavior of rational agents.

A foundational assumption in economics is that people are rational: they choose optimal plans of action given their predictions about future states of the world. In games of strategy this means that each player's strategy should be optimal given his or her prediction of the opponents' strategies. We demonstrate that there is an inherent tension between rationality and prediction when players are uncertain about their opponents' payoff functions. Specifically, there are games in which it is impossible for perfectly rational players to learn to predict the future behavior of their opponents (even approximately) no matter what learning rule they use. The reason is that in trying to predict the next-period behavior of an opponent, a rational player must take an action this period that the opponent can observe. This observation may cause the opponent to alter his next-period behavior, thus invalidating the first player's prediction. The resulting feedback loop has the property that, a positive fraction of the time, the predicted probability of some action next period differs substantially from the actual probability with which the action is going to occur. We conclude that there are strategic situations in which it is impossible in principle for perfectly rational agents to learn to predict the future behavior of other perfectly rational agents based solely on their observed actions.

Forecasting↗
PubMed1992

Rationing and the long-term-care system.

Rationing is a concept newly introduced in health-systems analysis in the United States. Although rationing, when applied to health care, is a fearful word to the elderly, at the most basic level it is simply a method that enables government to intervene in the private marketplace to allocate resources to achieve particular policy ends. This intervention to affect allocation of health care resources has long been used by all levels of government in the United States. Intervention by government in the private marketplace is examined as a means of expanding or limiting the supply of health care services or expanding or limiting the demand for such services. The Oregon rationing experiment with Medicaid services has significantly contributed to the introduction of the concept of rationing of health care. As expected, there is a disproportionate interest by the elderly in rationing health care; thus the effect of the Oregon rationing experiment on the elderly is discussed, as are other allocation interventions on long-term care, as a service of particular interest to the elderly.

Aged↗