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Decreased Performance (decreased + performance)
Selected AbstractsDevelopmental aspects of distal limb conformation in the horse: the potential consequences of uneven feet in foalsEQUINE VETERINARY JOURNAL, Issue 7 2006A. M. KROEKENSTOEL Summary Reasons for performing study: Distal limb conformation is generally accepted to be an important item with respect to performance and soundness in mature horses, but little is known about the developmental aspects. Objectives: To gain insight into the development of distal limb conformation and to assess the possible consequences of uneven feet in foals. Methods: Conformation of the distal front limbs of 23 Warmblood foals was scored visually and measured using radiographs, at ages 27 and 55 weeks. At the same ages, pressure measurements were made under both front feet. Results: At both ages the hoof-pastern axis was broken-backwards on radiographs, but only occasionally recognised as such, when scored by eye. Over time, the hoof angle decreased, while both the angles of the dorsal and solar surfaces of the distal phalanx (P3) increased and the parallelism between hoof wall and P3 improved. The foals with uneven feet at age 27 weeks showed a significant difference in distal limb loading that persisted until age 55 weeks. Conclusions: The alignment of the distal limb in the sagittal plane increased in a 6 month period. Visual assessment was not sensitive enough to appreciate this. The growth processes in the distal limb could not compensate for existing unevenness and ensuing asymmetrical limb loading. Potential relevance: Foals have a different conformation of the distal limb from mature horses, which should be taken into account when interpreting radiographs. Unevenness of the feet resulted in asymmetrical loading of the proximal and distal interphalangeal joint, which might lead to increased susceptibility to overload injuries and decreased performance at mature age. [source] Fatigued Elderly Patients With Chronic Heart FailureINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF NURSING TERMINOLOGIES AND CLASSIFICATION, Issue 2003Anna Ehrenberg PURPOSE To compare descriptions of fatigue based on the NANDA characteristics from interviews with elderly people with congestive heart failure (CHF) and data recorded by nurses at a Swedish outpatient heart failure clinic. METHODS Patients were screened for moderate to severe CHF. A total of 158 patients were interviewed using a revised form of the Fatigue Interview Schedule (FIS) based on the NANDA characteristics. Of these patients, half (n= 79) were offered visits at a nurse-monitored heart failure clinic. Nursing documentation of fatigue at the heart failure clinic was reviewed based on the NANDA characteristics and compared with the content in the patient interviews. FINDINGS Tiredness was documented in 43 (75%) records and indicated in 36 patients based on patient scores on the FIS (X,= 5.5; range 1,9). The most frequently recorded observation related to fatigue was the symptom emotionally labile or irritable, followed by notes on lack of energy and decreased performance. Patients' descriptions of their fatigue were expressed as a decreased ability to perform and a perceived need for additional energy. Results indicated poor concordance in patients' descriptions and record content concerning fatigue. Whereas patients emphasized the physical characteristics of fatigue, nurses emphasised the emotional features. Decreased libido was linked to fatigue according to the patients but not according to the nurses' records. Whereas cognitive characteristics of fatigue occurred rarely in the records, they were more frequent in the patient interviews. DISCUSSION Symptoms such as irritability and accident-proneness may be seen as manifestations of the patients' experiencing the need for more energy or a feeling of decreased performance. These consequences of being fatigued, rather than the different dimensions of fatigue, seemed to have been easy for the nurses to observe and document. Earlier studies indicate that poor observation, medication, and diet in patients with heart failure might partly be explained by cognitive impairment. CONCLUSIONS Findings of this study highlight the need for nurses to pay attention to the experience of fatigue in patients who suffer from CHF, and to validate their observations with the patients own expressions. Using the patients' words and expressions and the diagnostic characteristics of fatigue in recording can support the nurses in developing both understanding of patients living with CHF and strategies to help patients cope with their restricted ability in daily life. [source] Conspecific plant,soil feedbacks reduce survivorship and growth of tropical tree seedlingsJOURNAL OF ECOLOGY, Issue 2 2010Sarah McCarthy-Neumann Summary 1.,The Janzen,Connell (J,C) Model proposes that host-specific enemies maintain high tree species diversity by reducing seedling performance near conspecific adults and promoting replacement by heterospecific seedlings. Support for this model often comes from decreased performance for a species at near versus far distances from conspecific adults. However, the relative success of conspecific versus heterospecific seedlings recruiting under a given tree species is a critical, but untested, component of the J,C Model. 2.,In a shade-house experiment, we tested plant,soil feedbacks as a J,C mechanism in six tropical tree species. We assessed effects of conspecific versus heterospecific cultured soil extracts on seedling performance for each species, and we compared performance of conspecific versus heterospecific seedlings grown with soil extract cultured by a particular tree species. Additionally, we tested whether soil microbes were creating these plant,soil feedbacks and whether low light increased species vulnerability to pathogens. 3.,Among 30 potential comparisons of survival and mass for seedlings grown in conspecific versus heterospecific soil extracts, survival decreased in seven and increased in two, whereas mass decreased in 13 and increased in 1. To integrate survival and growth, we also examined seedling performance [(mean total mass × mean survival time)/(days of experiment)], which was lower in 16 and higher in 2 of 30 comparisons between seedlings grown with soil extract cultured by conspecific versus heterospecific individuals. Based on performance within a soil extract, conspecific seedlings were disadvantaged in 15 and favoured in 7 of 30 cases relative to heterospecific seedlings. 4.,Species pairwise interactions of soil modification and seedling performance occurred regardless of sterilization, suggesting chemical mediation. Microbes lacked host-specificity and reduced performance regardless of extract source and irradiance. 5.,Synthesis. These results, along with parallel research in temperate forests, suggest that plant,soil feedbacks are an important component of seedling dynamics in both ecosystems. However, negative conspecific feedbacks were more prevalent in tropical than temperate species. Thus, negative plant,soil feedbacks appear to facilitate species coexistence via negative distance-dependent processes in tropical but not temperate forests, but the feedbacks were mediated through chemical effects rather than through natural enemies as expected under the J,C Model. [source] Early onset of reproductive senescence in domestic sheep Ovis ariesOIKOS, Issue 2 2002Atle Mysterud A central theme in life history theory is to determine how reproduction varies with age in iteroparous organisms. Evidence of ageing and senescence, defined as the progressive loss of function accompanied by decreased performance with age, remains poorly documented for large herbivores, in particular as it relates to reproduction. Analyses of body weight of 87,532 domestic sheep lambs demonstrates that onset of reproductive senescence in ewes occurs already at 5 and 6 years of age when measured, respectively, as lamb weight and litter size produced. This provides convincing evidence of early onset of reproductive senescence in this highly domesticated sheep breed. As this is earlier than indicated for other Ovis species as well as for the Soay sheep, an ancient and lightly domesticated sheep, we hypothesize that there may be a cost of selection for large litter size in mammalian herbivores. [source] Sensitivity of Uncinula necator to quinoxyfen: evaluation of isolates selected using a discriminatory dose screenPEST MANAGEMENT SCIENCE (FORMERLY: PESTICIDE SCIENCE), Issue 6 2006Elizabeth A Green Abstract Quinoxyfen is a protectant fungicide that provides excellent control of many powdery mildew diseases. Prior to the launch of quinoxyfen in vines in 1998, a leaf disc sporulation assay was developed to assess the sensitivity of Uncinula necator (Schw) Burr to quinoxyfen. The distribution of EC50 values from 56 monoconidial U. necator isolates collected from six countries between 1993 and 1996 was found to range from less than 0.03 to 2.6 mg litre,1. Although this range of EC50 values was quite broad, the inability to establish a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) for the majority of these isolates, including some of the most sensitive isolates, was unexpected and suggested that the leaf disc sporulation assay may not reflect the true activity of quinoxyfen in the field. In 2002, following the detection of isolates resistant to quinoxyfen in Blumeria graminis Speer f. sp. tritici Marchal, a discriminatory dose screen was developed to test large populations of U. necator for rare individuals with significantly decreased sensitivity to quinoxyfen. The individual isolates selected by this method were tested with the leaf disc sporulation assay. Although a significant proportion were found to have EC50 values within the original distribution, a number of isolates with apparent reduced sensitivity to quinoxyfen were also detected. However, further examination of a subset of these isolates in a more quantitative germination/germ tube elongation inhibition assay suggested that the magnitude of the reduction in sensitivity for some of these isolates was much less than predicted by the sporulation assay. Thus, for an exclusively protectant fungicide such as quinoxyfen, a leaf disc sporulation assay may overestimate the frequency of isolates with significantly reduced sensitivity and the threat of decreased performance due to resistance. Copyright © 2006 Society of Chemical Industry [source] | |||||||||||||