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Weaning Period (weaning + period)
Selected AbstractsOsteobiography of a high-status burial from the lower Río Verde Valley of Oaxaca, MexicoINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF OSTEOARCHAEOLOGY, Issue 6 2008A. T. Mayes Abstract This paper presents the osteobiography of an individual from an early complex society who was clearly of "special" social status but was not classified a ruling elite. Our case derives from a unique burial found at the small site of Yugüe, located in the lower Río Verde valley on the Pacific coast of Oaxaca, Mexico. Burial 14-Individual 16 (B14-I16) dates to the late Terminal Formative Period (CE 100,250), an era of regional political centralization and concomitant social inequality. B14-I16 was interred with several valuable grave offerings. A plaster-backed pyrite mirror was found below his mandible, and his left hand held an elaborately incised flute made from a deer femur. The flute is the only object of its kind known for all of Terminal Formative Mesoamerica. Drawing on the physicality of inequality, we employ osteobiography to assess the social hierarchy. Although B14-I16 was clearly an individual of unusual status in the context of Yugüe, he was not immune from the biological assaults that affected people of less distinguished social position at this time. Like his contemporaries of all social statuses, he suffered ill health in the years during which he was weaned. However, a longer weaning period and access to additional resources may have positioned him to endure later illness better than others in this population. Passing the critical transition period at age 6 ½, a time when many children died in this burial site, his adolescent health was better than that of others in this population. Although B14-I16 did have adult responsibilities, he didn't engage in the kinds of physical labour that marked the skeletons of others. The placement of Burial B14-I16 in the middle tiers of the lower Río Verde valley's ancient social hierarchy provides insight into issues of inequality and status on an individual scale. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Unique pattern of urinary tract calculi in Australian Aboriginal childrenJOURNAL OF PAEDIATRICS AND CHILD HEALTH, Issue 5 2003PJ Carson Abstract Young Aboriginal children in remote regions of tropical and desert Australia are at risk of developing urate stones in their upper urinary tract from an early age. These radiolucent calculi were only recognized with the availability of ultrasound diagnosis and are not associated with anatomic anomalies or abnormal uric acid production/metabolism. Although these stones appear to resolve spontaneously after the weaning period, some result in ureteric obstruction and infection which may lead to renal damage. This pattern of urolithiasis differs from the usual global urolithiasis pattern of either endemic bladder stones in young children in developing countries or predominantly calcium-based stones in upper tracts of older children and adults in affluent industrialized countries, where upper tract urate stones account for only a minority of childhood urinary tract stones. Risk factors for urate stones are low urine output and acidic urine. An association between urolithiasis and carbohydrate intolerance leading to chronic acidosis has been suggested for Aboriginal children, but existing limited evidence does not support this as a major aetiological factor. Although further studies on the epidemiology, natural history and management of these urate stones are needed, we believe the focus should be on improving the known social and environmental risk factors of remote Aboriginal children during the weaning period which contribute to the unacceptably high prevalence of failure to thrive, diarrhoeal disease, environmental enteropathy, iron deficiency and urolithiasis. [source] The digestive tract and life history of small mammalsMAMMAL REVIEW, Issue 2 2002PETER LANGER ABSTRACT The type of food, differentiation of the large intestine and stomach, and methane production, as well as life history data, are considered in Insectivora, Rodentia and Lagomorpha. When food containing plant cell wall material is eaten, there is either a differentiation of the stomach or the large intestine. In animals with low body mass and little differentiation of the gastrointestinal tract, methane production is low, but structures essential for microbial digestion of plant cell wall material, such as haustration of the colon or formation of a caecum, can be found in many methane-producers. Animals with a body mass < 500 g and a weaning time < 20 days are non-producers of methane. Establishment of a balanced microbial population in the gastrointestinal tract requires some time. Many non-producers of methane wean their young in < 10 days, but many producers need > 50 days for the weaning process. Caviomorpha, Thryonomyidae and Hystricidae seem to have ,opened the door' to the use of low quality food by microbial fermentation, but some of them have to ,pay' for this extension of the food range by an extended weaning period, which also means an extended dependency on the mother. [source] Early weaning of winter flounder (Pseudopleuronectes americanus Walbaum) larvae on a commercial microencapsulated dietAQUACULTURE RESEARCH, Issue 6 2003I Ben Khemis Abstract Like most small marine fish larvae, the stomachs of winter flounder Pseudopleuronectes americanus are undeveloped at first feeding and have relatively reduced digestive capacity. This work was undertaken to test whether larvae at the onset of stomach differentiation (larval size about 5.5 mm) could be early weaned onto a commercial microencapsulated diet. We assessed the effect of early weaning by first comparing growth performance (standard length, total protein content and age at metamorphosis) of larvae fed enriched live prey from first feeding to a size of 5.5 mm and then reared on three different feeding regimes until metamorphosis: (1) live prey (LP) as a control group; (2) mixed feeding of live prey and microencapsulated diet (LP-ME); (3) exclusively microencapsulated diet (ME) after fast weaning over 4 days (to a larval size of 6.2 mm). No differences were observed between larval development in the two first groups, which began metamorphosis at 40 days old. The larvae of the third group showed significantly slower growth that resulted in a delay of 4 days in the onset of metamorphosis. Differences in live prey availability between the treatments and the short transition period to allow the larvae to adapt to the new diet were identified as possible contributing factors to the slower growth and to the delay in metamorphosis of early weaned larvae. In a second experiment, the transitional weaning period was increased until the larvae were 6.6 mm in length. Weaning at that size resulted in no slowing of growth or delay in metamorphosis, suggesting that the feeding schedule was adequate. [source] Biological and technical evaluation of the potential of marine and anadromous fish species for cold-water maricultureAQUACULTURE RESEARCH, Issue 2 2002N R Le François Abstract Concern about the overexploitation of wild aquatic resources, the slow recovery of the groundfish fisheries and the need to encourage the diversification of the mariculture industry of the province of Quebec (Canada) all provided strong incentive to explore the potential of a wide selection of marine and anadromous fish species for cold-water mariculture. Starting from a list of over 45 indigenous fish species of potential commercial interest, a biotechnical review was initiated. Technical sheets for each species were produced and aquaculture-based selection criteria covering three aquaculture approaches of development (complete life cycle, on-growing and stock enhancement) were examined. Species were ranked according to their degree of suitability for the given biological parameters. The final classification analysis within the complete life cycle production strategy positioned the Atlantic wolffish as the top candidate species (91%) followed by the spotted wolffish and Arctic charr (87%). Growth rate, optimal growth temperature, duration of the weaning period, minimal lethal temperature, larval size and feed requirements were the determining criteria. The on-growing scenario final results ranked Arctic charr first (84%) followed by Atlantic cod (79%) and Atlantic halibut (74%) mostly owing to their growth rate at low temperature and optimal growth temperature criteria. Stock enhancement programmes should concentrate their efforts on the striped bass (56%), the haddock (54%) and the Atlantic sturgeon (34%) based on their growth rate, fishery status, landing price and the availability of impact studies. [source] | ||||||||||