text:
Masood Asadi-Fozi1,2,
Heather L. Bradford1 &
David R. Notter ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-6589-18311
Genetics Selection Evolution volume 52, Article number: 56 (2020) Cite this article
Seasonal reproduction limits productivity, flexibility, and profitability in commercial sheep production. Hormonal and (or) photoperiodic manipulation can be used to control estrous cycles in sheep and reduce limitations that are imposed by the seasonal anestrous but are often impractical or incompatible with the extensive management systems preferred for ruminant livestock. Thus, the current study investigated the use of selection to improve realized fertility (i.e., the proportion of ewes that lambed) following an out-of-season spring joining period (May and June) in a crossbred sheep population.
Over 17 years, estimated breeding values (EBV) for fertility in selected (S) ewes increased by 0.175 (0.01 per year). The mean EBV for fertility of S ewes was greater than that of control ewes by year 10 (P = 0.02), and the fertility of adult (≥ 3 years old) ewes reached 0.88 ± 0.05 by year 17. Lambing began approximately 140 days after the introduction of rams, and 64% of the S ewes that lambed did so in the first 17 days of the potential lambing season, which indicated that most of the S ewes were cycling at the time of ram introduction and were not induced to cycle by the introduction of breeding males (i.e., the so-called "ram effect"). Animals in the S line had modest increases in body weight and scrotal circumference. A modest negative trend in the additive maternal effect on birth weight was observed but was reversed by additional selection on EBV for maternal birth weight. The heritability of litter size in autumn lambing was low (0.04) and could potentially limit the response to selection for this trait.
Selection improved realized ewe fertility in out-of-season mating, with absolute increases of approximately 1% per year in the percentage of joined ewes that lambed in the autumn. Genetic antagonisms with other performance traits were generally small. A modest antagonism with maternal breeding values for birth weight was observed but it could be accommodated by selection on EBV for maternal birth weight. Our results support results of previous studies that indicate that these selected ewes had one of the shortest seasonal anestrous periods reported for temperate sheep breeds and that spring-lambing lactating ewes from the selection line were capable of relatively rapid rebreeding in the spring.
Seasonal changes in reproductive activity are commonly observed in sheep and goats exposed to the circannual fluctuations in day length that occur at temperate latitudes [1]. A distinct anestrous period is present in essentially all temperate sheep breeds, but with considerable variation in timing and duration of the seasonal anestrous [2]. Breeds that were developed under tropical and subtropical conditions often do not have a well-defined seasonal anestrous but, if moved to higher latitudes, may express a seasonal pattern of reproduction in response to more extreme fluctuations in day length [3]. Seasonal breeding places constraints on commercial sheep producers. The gestation length of the ewe is approximately 145 d, theoretically allowing ewes to lamb every 6 to 8 months, but the seasonal anestrous generally results in a single annual spring lambing. Estrous behavior in the ewe can be modified by controlling photoperiod or administration of gonadotropins and (or) melatonin [4], but these interventions are, in many cases, not feasible with the extensive management that is preferred for ruminant livestock.
Attempts to develop lines of sheep with improved fertility in autumn lambing [5,6,7,8] generally did not yield definitive results because of limitations in designs, lack of appropriate control populations, or early termination of the study before experimental objectives were achieved. Thus, the objective of the current study was to use selection to attempt to improve the frequency of autumn (October and November) lambing in a crossbred sheep population managed in an annual autumn-lambing system.
Location and populations
This study was conducted in Blacksburg, VA at 37° N and 80° W. The base population was a composite line with 50% Dorset, 25% Rambouillet, and 25% Finnsheep breeding [9]. In autumn of 1988, ewes obtained by one to three generations of inter se mating between parents of this composite line were randomly divided within age and sire into a spring-bred selection line (S; n = 125), a contemporary spring-bred environmental control line (EC; n = 55), and an autumn-bred genetic control line (GC; n = 45) (Fig. 1). Two control lines were required to allow control animals to be both randomly selected and contemporary to animals in line S. Progeny of EC ewes could not be randomly selected because they were born to ewes that conceived in the spring. Thus, the GC ewes were mated in autumn and used to produce randomly selected EC replacement ewes, which were moved to the spring-mated EC line. Replacement ewes for the GC and EC lines were chosen at random within GC sires. Thus, the same sires were represented in the EC and GC lines, and full-sib ewe lambs born in the GC line were normally represented in both EC and GC lines. A necessary limitation of this design was that EC ewes, born in spring (March) and joined for the first time in May at 14 months of age, were an average of 7 months older than ewes in line S at each joining.
Experimental design to evaluate improvement of autumn lambing by selection [11]. Arrows indicate the flow of replacement ewe lambs in the three lines. Replacement ewes and rams in the S (selection) and GC (genetic control) lines were produced within the lines. Unselected replacement ewes for the EC (environmental control) line were produced in the GC line and transferred to the EC line for evaluation
Mating scheme
The S and EC ewes were joined with rams during 6 weeks from May 1, and GC ewes were joined with rams during 4 weeks from October 1. The selection objective was to improve fertility during the annual spring joining period. However, to avoid keeping potentially large numbers of barren ewes, S and EC ewes were also joined with groups of Suffolk rams during 30 d from August 1. Lambs from this joining period were born in January and weaned in early March. We assumed that S and EC ewes that had lambed in January would not be less fertile than ewes that had lambed in October at the subsequent May joining period. Figure 2 shows the periods of joining for the three lines and annual changes in day length at the experimental location. One third of the ewes in lines S and EC were replaced each year in order to maintain comparable distributions of ewe age for both lines. Half of the rams in line S were replaced each year, with no more than two sons from the same sire. Rams in line S were generally used for one or two years, but occasionally retained for a third year. By contrast, GC ewes and rams were replaced only when necessary because of death or health issues in order to maximize the generation interval and effective population size. These replacement rates were maintained rigorously throughout the experiment.
Annual changes in day length at Blacksburg, Virginia, USA (37.2° N, 80.4° W). Arrows show the beginning and end of the joining period for selection (S), environmental control (EC), and genetic control (CG; red arrows) lines. Tan and blue arrows indicate the primary and clean-up (CU) joinings, respectively for S and EC ewes
The experiment was divided into three phases: 1, 2 and 3. In Phase 1 (1989 through 1993) [10, 11], S and EC ewes were exposed to vasectomized rams during two weeks before mating began on May 1. The S ewes were joined with one of 10 S rams, and EC ewes were joined with one of five GC rams in single-sire breeding pens. Selection of replacement ewes and rams in line S was based on the mean fertility of their dams during the spring joining period (1 for ewes that lambed in autumn and 0 for ewes that did not lamb; hereafter referred to only as "fertility"), with emphasis on keeping the progeny from the small number of ewes that lambed successfully in autumn at 12 months of age.
Phase 2 (1994 through 1998) included modifications based on the results from Phase 1 [11]. Based on the generally acceptable fertility achieved in Phase 1, ewes were no longer exposed to vasectomized rams before joining. In addition, S and EC ewes were all joined with S rams in 10 single-sire breeding pens. This modification allowed a more direct comparison of fertility for S and EC ewes but also allowed S males to potentially affect the mating behavior of EC ewes. Selection decisions in Phase 2 were based on estimated breeding values (EBV) for fertility using parameters from Phase 1 [10].
In Phase 3 (1999 through 2005), selection continued in the S line, but the GC line was terminated, and no new replacements were added to the EC line. Selection procedures in Phase 3 were the same as those in Phase 2. However, subsamples of S and remaining EC ewes were used in several semi-intensive studies [12,13,14,15,16], in which ewes were not given the opportunity to lamb in one or more years, thereby reducing selection intensity in the S line. However, fertility data were collected for all available S ewes in 2004 and 2005.
Animal management and data collection
Ewes in all lines were maintained throughout the year on grass-legume pastures that comprise primarily tall fescue, orchardgrass, and white clover. Grass-legume hay was fed as needed in January through March. Ewes received alfalfa hay and a supplement of grain in late gestation and during lactation. Lambs were weighed and docked within 24 h of birth. Male lambs remained intact. Lactating ewes and their lambs were maintained in an elevated feeding facility with an expanded-metal floor. Lambs had access to creep feed after approximately 3 weeks of age and were weighed and weaned at approximately 60 d of age. Lambs remained in the same facility, were fed a high-concentrate diet ad libitum for 60 d after weaning, and were weighed at approximately 90 and 120 d of age. Scrotal circumference was measured on male lambs at approximately 60, 90, and 120 d of age but was not recorded in 1991. Replacement rams and ewes were identified by 150 d of age, removed from the feeding barn, and managed on grass-legume pastures with a supplement of grain as needed to achieve target minimum breeding weights of 30 kg for females and 50 kg for males at approximately 210 d of age. All lambs of S ewes that attained the target breeding weight and were free of obvious structural defects were retained and joined with rams. The number of replacement S ewes was reduced to approximately 42 (i.e., one third of the S ewe flock) before the second joining period by removing yearling ewes that did not lamb and had the lowest average dam fertility (Phase 1) or EBV for fertility (Phases 2 and 3). Housing, management, and data collection for lactating GC ewes and their lambs were the same as for autumn-born lambs. Most GC ewe lambs were retained to meet replacement needs for the GC and EC flocks.
The intensity of lamb performance recording was relaxed in some years during Phase 3. Lambs were weighed only at 60 and 120 d in 2001, and 60 and 90 d in 2003. In 2002, 15% of the available ram lambs were identified after weaning as possible replacements based on EBV for fertility; 120-d weights were recorded for these ram lambs and all ewe lambs, but the remaining ram lambs were not retained. In 2004, 82% of the male lambs and 30% of the female lambs were removed from the study after recording weaning and 90-d BW. In 2005, 23% of the lambs of both sexes were removed after recording weaning and 90-d BW. Measurement of SC was discontinued after 2000.
Autumn-born ram lambs selected for use in the spring at 7 to 8 months of age were subjected to an examination for breeding soundness a few days before joining. In small pens, the ram lambs were exposed to adult ewes that had been brought into estrus. Ram lambs that did not serve any ewes on the first day of testing were held overnight in pens adjacent to those containing estrus ewes and tested again on the following day. Twenty five to 35% of the candidate ram lambs did not serve estrus ewes and were discarded.
For this study, data on fertility and litter size came only from spring joining periods of S and EC ewes. Records of reproductive performance for spring-lambing GC ewes were used only to characterize their fertility during the autumn joining period. Likewise, birth weight records came only from autumn-born S and EC lambs; this decision was based on differences in direct and maternal heritabilities for birth weight between lambs born in autumn and spring [17]. Postnatal BW were recorded under the same intensive management and feeding in autumn and spring, and BW records from S, EC, and GC lambs were included in analyses of postnatal BW. However, since photoperiod could potentially affect the rate of testis growth, records of SC were limited to autumn-born lambs. Ewe and lamb records obtained from matings to Suffolk sires in August were not used in any of the analyses. Means and numbers of observations for each variable in the final dataset are in Table 1.
Table 1 Descriptive statistics and data structure for ewe reproduction and lamb performance
Models and parameter estimation
Genetic parameters and EBV were estimated using Bayesian methods, multivariate animal models, and the BLUPF90 software [18]. The additive relationship matrix (\(\mathbf{A}\)) included 4921 animals from the three lines and extended back to the founders of the base population [9]. Animals in the S, GC, and EC lines were derived from a common base population, and line effects were not included in the statistical models. Analyses used 1,000,000 Gibbs samples, discarded 20,000 burn-in samples, and retained every 500th sample. Burn-in was determined based on visual diagnostics. Thinning was set to keep most of the autocorrelations lower than 0.5 and effective sample sizes larger than 30. Fertility was analyzed with both linear and threshold models.
The model for ewe fertility and litter size was:
$${\mathrm{Y}}_{\mathrm{ijkl}}={\mathrm{T}}_{\mathrm{i}}+{\mathrm{C}}_{\mathrm{j}}+{\upbeta }_{1}{\mathrm{F}}_{\mathrm{k}}+{\upbeta }_{2}{\mathrm{F}}_{\mathrm{k}}^{2}+{\mathrm{A}}_{\mathrm{k}}+{\mathrm{PE}}_{\mathrm{k}}+{\mathrm{P}}_{\mathrm{il}}+{\mathrm{e}}_{\mathrm{ijkl}},$$
where \({\mathrm{Y}}_{\mathrm{ijkl}}\) is the fertility or litter size, \({\mathrm{T}}_{\mathrm{i}}\) and \({\mathrm{C}}_{\mathrm{j}}\) are fixed effects of lambing year and ewe age class, respectively; \({\upbeta }_{1}\) and \({\upbeta }_{2}\) are continuous linear and quadratic effects of inbreeding (\(\mathrm{F}\)) of the \(\mathrm{k}\)th animal; \({\mathrm{A}}_{\mathrm{k}}\) and \({\mathrm{PE}}_{\mathrm{k}}\) are random additive animal and permanent environmental effects, respectively, for the \(\mathrm{k}\)th animal; \({\mathrm{P}}_{\mathrm{il}}\) is the random effect of the \(\mathrm{l}\)th service sire in the \(\mathrm{i}\)th lambing year; and \({\mathrm{e}}_{\mathrm{ijkl}}\) is a random residual. Random effects of \(\mathrm{A}\), \(\mathrm{PE}\), \(\mathrm{P}\), and \(\mathrm{e}\) were assumed to be uncorrelated. Ewe age classes distinguished between yearling, 2-year-old and adult (more than 3 years old) ewes. The yearling ewe age class was further subdivided to discriminate between ewes that were allowed to lamb for the first time at 12 (S) or 19 (EC) months of age. The S and EC ewes were placed in the same ewe age classes after the first lambing opportunity. Heritabilities and repeatabilities for these traits were estimated from univariate models as the ratios of additive genetic and additive genetic plus ewe permanent environmental variances, respectively, to phenotypic variance.
Lamb birth weight and BW and SC at 60, 90, and 120 days were analyzed as separate traits. Before analysis, birth weights were adjusted for dam age and type of birth and postnatal BW and SC were adjusted for effects of dam age and type of birth and rearing using multiplicative adjustment factors derived from the data and following procedures from [19]. The model was:
$${\mathrm{W}}_{\mathrm{ijkl}}={\mathrm{TS}}_{\mathrm{i}}+{\mathrm{X}}_{\mathrm{j}}+{\upbeta }_{3}{\mathrm{D}}_{\mathrm{k}}+{\upbeta }_{4}{\mathrm{F}}_{\mathrm{k}}+{\upbeta }_{5}{\mathrm{F}}_{\mathrm{l}}+{\mathrm{A}}_{\mathrm{k}}+{\mathrm{M}}_{\mathrm{l}}+{\mathrm{MPE}}_{\mathrm{l}}+{\mathrm{L}}_{\mathrm{il}}+{\mathrm{e}}_{\mathrm{ijkl}},$$
where \({\mathrm{W}}_{\mathrm{ijkl}}\) is the observed BW or SC; \({\mathrm{TS}}_{\mathrm{i}}\) are the fixed effects of lambing year for birth weight and SC or lambing year and season (autumn or spring) for postnatal BW; \({\mathrm{X}}_{\mathrm{j}}\) are the fixed effects of lamb sex (omitted for SC); \({\upbeta }_{3}\) is a continuous linear effect of lamb age (\(\mathrm{D}\); omitted for birth weight); \({\upbeta }_{4}\) and \({\upbeta }_{5}\) are continuous linear effects of inbreeding (\(\mathrm{F}\)) of lamb and dam, respectively; \({\mathrm{A}}_{\mathrm{k}}\) and \({\mathrm{M}}_{\mathrm{l}}\) are random direct and maternal additive effects, respectively, for the \(\mathrm{k}\)th animal and the \(\mathrm{l}\)th dam; \({\mathrm{MPE}}_{\mathrm{l}}\) is the permanent environmental effect of the \(\mathrm{l}\)th dam; \({\mathrm{L}}_{\mathrm{il}}\) is a random litter effect; and \({\mathrm{e}}_{\mathrm{ijkl}}\) is the random residual. For all models, additive direct-maternal covariances could not be estimated and were set to zero, and non-genetic random effects (i.e., \(\mathrm{MPE}\) and \(\mathrm{L}\)) were assumed to be uncorrelated with each other and with other random effects. In addition, models for SC that contained both additive maternal and dam permanent environmental effects failed to converge and did not yield reasonable estimates for these variance components. Based on the deviance information criterion (DIC) [20], the maternal permanent environmental effect was removed from the final models for SC. Estimates of additive genetic (\({\sigma }_{\mathrm{A}}^{2}\)), additive maternal (\({\sigma }_{\mathrm{M}}^{2}\)), maternal permanent environmental (\({\sigma }_{\mathrm{MPE}}^{2}\)), litter (\({\sigma }_{\mathrm{L}}^{2}\)), and residual (\({\sigma }_{\mathrm{e}}^{2}\)) variances were expressed as proportions of phenotypic variances (\({{\sigma }_{\mathrm{P}}^{2}=\sigma }_{\mathrm{A}}^{2}+{\sigma }_{\mathrm{M}}^{2}+{\sigma }_{\mathrm{MPE}}^{2}+{\sigma }_{\mathrm{L}}^{2}+{\sigma }_{\mathrm{e}}^{2}).\)
Genetic trends
Estimated breeding values for fertility were derived for univariate linear and threshold models. Mean EBV for fertility were calculated by year and line and were based on the ewes that were joined in each line and year or, for line S, the average EBV of each joined pair [11]. This approach was preferable to estimates of genetic change being based on average EBV of lambs born in each line because ewes that did not conceive in spring did not produce lambs and EC lambs were sired by S rams in Phase 2. Four multi-trait analyses were used to estimate genetic parameters, covariances with fertility (modeled as a threshold trait), and EBV of joined ewes for (1) ewe litter size, (2) lamb birth weight, (3) lamb BW at 60, 90, and 120 d, and (4) SC in male lambs at 60, 90, and 120 d. Ewes that did not lamb did not have records for litter size or lamb performance and residual correlations between these traits and fertility were set to zero. Likewise, when fertility was correlated with traits with an additive maternal effect (i.e., lamb BW and SC), covariances between additive effects on fertility and additive maternal effects on other traits failed to converge to reasonable values and were set to 0. Genetic trends were determined by regressing EBV means on year and testing the differences in the resulting regression coefficients between lines. Standard deviations of regression coefficients did not explicitly account for genetic drift, but effects of drift on EBV for fertility were approximated using procedures from [11].
Fixed effects
Fertility differed with ewe age (Fig. 3). Adult ewes had higher fertility than 2-year-old ewes (P = 0.001), and both these groups had a much higher fertility than yearling ewes (P < 0.001). The average fertility of 14-month-old yearling EC ewes was higher than that of contemporary S yearling ewes (P < 0.001), which reflected their age difference at first joining. Average inbreeding coefficients for ewes mated in Phase 1 were on average 0.8% and did not differ among lines. In Phase 2, average inbreeding coefficients for mated ewes were on average 3.8% for the S, 3.0% for the EC, and 1.9% for the GC line. The smaller inbreeding coefficients found for the GC line reflected the lower ewe replacement rate in this line. The average inbreeding coefficient for S ewes that were mated in Phase 3 was 5.1%. Effects of inbreeding of the ewe on fertility and litter size and inbreeding of both the lamb and the ewe on BW and SC were negative, but small (P ≥ 0.20).
Phenotypic means for realized fertility in spring joining for yearling, 2-year-old, and adult (> 2-year-old) ewes in the selection (S) and environmental control (EC) lines in each phase of the study
Genetic parameters
The heritability of realized fertility during the spring joining periods was 0.07 ± 0.01 for the linear model and 0.15 ± 0.04 for the threshold model (Table 2). Permanent environmental effects of the ewe were also significant for fertility; repeatability estimates for fertility were 0.14 ± 0.02 for the linear model and 0.28 ± 0.03 for the threshold model. The random effect of service sire within mating year accounted for 7 ± 1% and 13 ± 2% of the phenotypic variation in fertility for the linear and threshold models, respectively. For litter size, the estimated heritability was 0.04 ± 0.02 and repeatability was 0.12 ± 0.03. Effects of the service sire accounted for only 1 ± 1% of phenotypic variance in litter size. Additive genetic, permanent environmental, and service-sire correlations between fertility (using the threshold model) and litter size were positive (0.24 ± 0.42, 0.49 ± 0.30, and 0.52 ± 0.48, respectively) but only the permanent environmental correlation was notably higher than its standard deviation (P = 0.10).
Table 2 Estimates and SD for phenotypic variances (\({\sigma }_{\mathrm{P}}^{2}\)) and variance components, as a proportion of \({\sigma }_{\mathrm{P}}^{2}\), obtained with single-trait models for fertility and litter size
The heritability estimate for lamb BW was low (0.05 ± 0.03) at birth but increased with lamb age to 0.19 ± 0.04 at 120 d (Table 3). Additive maternal, maternal permanent environmental, and litter effects were also significant for lamb BW. The heritability estimates for SC (Table 3) were larger at 90 d (0.41 ± 0.09) than at either 60 (0.31 ± 0.08) or 120 d (0.34 ± 0.09). Additive maternal and litter effects on SC were significant at all ages, but the additive maternal component may have been inflated by maternal permanent environmental effects that could be estimated separately.
Table 3 Estimates and SD for variance components, as a proportion of phenotypic variances (\({\sigma }_{\mathrm{P}}^{2}\)), for birth weight (kg) and for body weight traits (BW; kg) and scrotal circumferences (SC; cm) at 60, 90, and 120 days of age
Both additive and maternal genetic correlations between BW at 60, 90, and 120 days all exceeded 0.89. Additive and maternal genetic correlations between SC at these ages averaged 0.90 and 0.77, respectively. Fertility in spring joining had genetic correlations of − 0.37 ± 0.30 with lamb birth weight, 0.09 to 0.15 with postnatal BW, and 0.02 to 0.10 with SC.
Phenotypic trends
Least-squares means for fertility of yearling, 2-year-old, and adult S and EC ewes in each phase of the study (Fig. 3) were derived from a simple linear model that included fixed effects of line, year, ewe age (1, 2, or ≥ 3 years), and their interactions. Fertility of 2-year-old and adult ewes increased between Phase 1 and Phase 2 for both S and EC ewes but then, in Phase 3, did not change for 2-year-old S ewes and declined for adult S ewes. This apparent truncation of the selection response in the S line in Phase 3 was associated with the temporary exclusion of several ewes with high EBV from the breeding population for use in a series of intensive studies. However, in the final year of the study (2005), when all ewes were included in the breeding population, the mean fertility was 0.93 ± 0.07 for 2-year-old ewes and 0.88 ± 0.05 for adult ewes.
The difference between S and EC ewes in Phase 1 was 0.02 ± 0.07 (P = 0.38) for 2-year-old ewes and 0.08 ± 0.05 (P = 0.11) for adult ewes but increased in Phase 2 to 0.11 ± 0.06 (P = 0.08) for 2-year-old ewes and 0.14 ± 0.04 (P = 0.001) for adult ewes. Fertility of 2-year-old and adult S ewes in Phase 2 averaged 0.73 ± 0.09 and 0.86 ± 0.05, respectively. By comparison, fertility of spring-lambing yearling, 2-year-old, and adult GC ewes averaged 0.74 ± 0.04, 0.94 ± 0.02, and 0.93 ± 0.01, respectively. In yearlings, EC ewes had higher fertility than S ewes in Phase 1 (0.35 ± 0.06 versus 0.11 ± 0.03). However, the advantage in fertility for yearling EC ewes declined from 0.24 ± 0.07 (P = 0.001) in Phase 1 to 0.09 ± 0.05 (P = 0.08) in Phase 2, and fertility of yearling ewes in the S line further increased to 0.28 ± 0.04 in Phase 3.
Genetic trends in fertility in line S were based on the mean EBV for fertility of each pair of prospective parents (Fig. 4). As expected, estimates of heritability and selection response for fertility were higher with a threshold model than with a linear model. However, the correlation of EBV for fertility between the two models was 0.987, indicating that rankings of candidates for selection were not affected by the model used to derive EBV. For a linear model, EBV for fertility in line S improved from -0.022 ± 0.040 in 1989 to 0.153 ± 0.044 in 2005; the regression coefficient of EBV on year was 0.0101 ± 0.0004 per year. Rates of change in EBV for fertility were similar in Phases 1 and 2, but initially decreased in Phase 3, in association with the relaxed selection and use of S ewes in intensive studies. However, the mean EBV for fertility of S ewes increased in 2004 and 2005, when all available S ewes had opportunity to lamb.
Additive genetic trends in fertility in the selection (S) line from a linear or a threshold model. EBV for fertility are averages for pairs of ewes and rams joined in each year. Vertical lines indicate the three phases of the study
EBV for fertility of ewes in the S, EC, and GC lines were compared using EBV of ewes joined in each line and year (Fig. 5). The EC ewes were exposed to S rams in Phase 2, thus the use of parent-average EBV would have over-estimated the genetic trend in the EC line. Genetic trends in fertility were low for the GC (-0.0011 ± 0.0007 per year) and EC (0.0021 ± 0.0017 per year) lines. The genetic trend for the S ewes (Fig. 5) was slightly lower (0.0093 ± 0.0007 per year), particularly in Phase 3, than that based on parent-average EBV. The EBV for litter size increased by 0.0025 ± 0.0003 per year in line S in Phases 1 and 2, before plateauing in Phase 3 (Fig. 5). However, the total change in EBV for litter size in line S from 1989 to 2005 was only 0.020 lambs. The net change in EBV for litter size was trivial for both control lines.
Additive genetic trends in fertility (ewes lambing in autumn per ewe joined in the spring) and litter size for each line. The EBV are averages for ewes joined for each line in each year
Additive genetic trends in EBV for birth weight were not observed in any of the lines (Fig. 6). However, a negative trend in EBV for maternal birth weight was observed for line S in Phases 1 and 2 (− 0.006 ± 0.002 kg/year) but reversed in Phase 3. Additive genetic trends in lamb BW were relatively small (Fig. 7). The linear trend in EBV for 60-day weaning BW in line S was 0.100 ± 0.006 kg (0.5%) per year but there was no detectable trend in additive maternal effects. Patterns of change in EBV for 90- and 120-day BW were essentially identical to those for 60-day BW, but EBV means and SE, and associated genetic trends were larger and proportional to additive direct and maternal standard deviations in Table 3. No changes in EBV for SC were observed in EC or GC lambs, and genetic trends in maternal EBV for SC were low for all lines and measurement ages (not shown). However, positive trends of 0.040 ± 0.003, 0.092 ± 0.006, and 0.065 ± 0.006 cm/year (0.3, 0.5, and 0.3%/year) were observed for SC in S lambs at 60, 90, and 120 days, respectively, with the highest genetic trend in SC observed at 90 days (Fig. 8).
Direct and maternal additive genetic trends in birth weight. The EBV are averages for ewes joined for each line in each year
Direct and maternal additive genetic trends in lamb 60-day weaning weight. The EBV are averages for the ewes joined for each line in each year. Patterns of change in EBV for 90- and 120-d weights (not shown) were nearly identical to those for 60-d weight
Additive genetic trends in lamb scrotal circumference (SC) in the selection (S) line at 60, 90, and 120 d of age. The EBV are averages for ewes joined in each year. At all measurement ages, additive genetic trends in SC in the environmental control (EC) and genetic control (GC) lines and additive maternal genetic trends in the three lines were negligible and are not shown
This study documents the additive genetic effects on spring mating behavior in sheep. The heritability estimate for fertility during the spring joining period from the linear model was low (0.07 ± 0.01), but consistent with previous estimates of heritabilities of fertility in sheep [21]. However, the relatively low mean fertility and associated high phenotypic variation observed in our study resulted in useful levels of estimated additive genetic variation and a positive selection response. EBV for fertility in spring joining increased in selected ewes and, at the end of Phase 2, were higher for the S than the EC ewes. However, fertility of yearling ewes did not begin to improve until Phase 3 of the study. This pattern, and the apparent plateau in fertility of older ewes, was consistent with expectations for a threshold model, with the older ewes approaching the upper limit for mean fertility whereas improvements in breeding values for fertility on the underlying scale in yearling ewes allowed progressively more of them to become pregnant in the spring.
Over the 17 years of the study, fertility of line S increased by 0.01 per year (i.e., 2% of mean fertility) and the average EBV for fertility at the end of Phase 3 was 0.15 ± 0.03. Means of EBV for fertility from the linear model at the end of Phase 2 were 0.10 ± 0.01 for the S and − 0.032 ± 0.019 for the EC line. However, the SE for genetic trends and line differences in EBV for fertility did not explicitly account for genetic drift. Al-Shorepy and Notter [11] used procedures from [22, 23] to predict drift variances for fertility in S and EC lines at the end of Phase 1. These values were projected to the end of Phase 2 assuming proportionality of estimated drift variances to the duration of the study. Resulting predicted SE of the line means were 0.04 for line S and 0.03 for line EC, and the line difference at the end of Phase 2 was 0.13 ± 0.05 (P < 0.02). Thus, we concluded that improvement in additive genetic merit for fertility was achieved and that the sizes of the S and EC lines were, as intended, near the minimum required to meet the experimental objective.
A limitation of the experimental design was that EC ewes, born in March and joined for the first time in May at 14 months of age, were on average 7 months older than the S ewes at each joining. This problem could have been avoided by transferring frozen embryos from GC ewes into EC donors in the spring, but we rejected this option because of concerns regarding estrous induction and embryo transfer with frozen embryos in unselected ewes in spring. In retrospect, we see no better structure for the control lines.
The May joining corresponded to the anticipated maximum depth of anestrous at this location [2, 15]. However, intensive feeding of lactating ewes, creep feeding of suckling lambs, early weaning, and intensive feeding of weaned lambs helped to achieve a measurable selection response. Fertility of EC ewes in Phases 1 and 2 averaged 0.55 for adult ewes, 0.49 for 2-year-old ewes, and 0.35 for 14-month-old EC replacement ewes. These values compared favorably to published results for Finnsheep crossbred ewes joined in the spring [24, 25]. However, spring fertility of 8-month-old ewe lambs in line S averaged only 0.12 in Phases 1 and 2, but increased to 0.28 in Phase 3, which emphasizes the challenges involved in selecting replacement ewe lambs in production systems that involve autumn lambing [26]. Autumn-born lambs were anticipated to be genetically superior but were phenotypically unlikely to lamb at 1 year of age.
Several other studies attempted to reduce seasonality of reproduction in sheep [5,6,7,8], but few, if any, of these achieved unambiguous success. None included a contemporary unselected control, and most were terminated before a positive selection response was documented. However, differences among breeds of sheep in timing and duration of the breeding season are well-documented [1, 2], as well as breed differences in sensitivity of ewes to ram effect and the ability of rams to elicit this response [27, 28]. Thus, we were aware that selection could shift, rather than reduce, the seasonal anestrous or modify responses to the introduction of rams. However, several studies confirmed that S ewes had a longer breeding season than EC ewes. When ewes were exposed continually to vasectomized rams, negative (favorable) relationships were observed between EBV for fertility and duration of the seasonal anestrous [12, 14]. Ewes with high and low EBV were anestrous for an average of 28 and 70 d, respectively (P < 0.001), and some ewes with high EBV did not exhibit a seasonal anestrus [12]. The duration of the seasonal anestrus in selected ewes was not affected by continuous exposure to 16-h days in February through June [14]. In that study, the average duration of anestrus for adult ewes was 34 days, and ewes commonly missed only one or two estrous cycles in late July and August. When adult ewes were isolated from rams for one year, the mean period of anestrous (based on circulating progesterone levels) was shorter for S ewes (57 d) than for St. Croix (133 d) or Suffolk (140 d) ewes [15], but only one of 10 S ewes cycled continuously for one year. The longer periods of anestrous in [15] compared to those observed with continuous ram exposure suggested that isolation from rams extended the seasonal anestrous. However, for S ewes all three studies [12, 14, 15] reported anestrous periods that were among the shortest ever reported for temperate sheep breeds, demonstrating that the breeding season of S ewes was extended to include the early May joining period.
Changes in sensitivity to ram effect did not have a major impact on our results. Ewes were exposed to vasectomized rams in Phase 1 of the study, but not in Phases 2 or 3. For S ewes in Phases 2 and 3, most ewes lambed in the first 17 days of the lambing season (Fig. 9). By contrast, the first ovulation in ewes that were stimulated to ovulate by ram effect is usually not accompanied by estrus; i.e. the first estrus normally occurs at the second ovulation, resulting in a concentration of births at 17 to 23 days after the potential start of lambing [28]. The observed distribution of lambing dates indicated that most of the ewes that would eventually lamb were cycling at the time of ram introduction. The efficacy of ram effect increases as the ewes approach the end of anestrous [27], and we chose an end to the spring joining period that was expected to allow a reasonable ewe fertility even if ewes did not begin to cycle until June. The fact that, in our study, selection response was achieved by deferring the start of anestrous, rather than by relying on ram effect to accelerate the beginning of the next breeding season, was fortunate. Lambing was nearly complete by the end of October, and ewes that did not lamb early (i.e., that were not cycling at joining) were unlikely to lamb. Thus, weaning occurred in December and maximized the time available for ewes to recover from lactation before the next spring joining.
Distribution of lambing dates for selected ewes in Phases 2 and 3. Lambing periods represent consecutive 17-day periods (approximately corresponding to one estrous cycle) beginning 140 days after the start of the joining period
Mechanisms that control seasonal breeding in sheep are relatively well-understood [29] and involve translation of external changes in day length to circannual changes in neuro-endocrine responses. These changes are mediated by photoperiodic control of the timing and duration of melatonin secretion from the pineal gland by a variety of clock genes [30]. In this study, the control points that were disrupted to extend the breeding season are unknown. Ewes with high EBV for fertility had lower nocturnal melatonin levels and higher nocturnal prolactin levels in August than ewes with low EBV for fertility [13], but it is unlikely that these changes had a causal role in reducing the seasonal anestrous. A more likely explanation was that selection reduced stringency of the photoperiodic control over expression of the breeding season, allowing fluctuations in nocturnal melatonin levels. Spring fertility was associated with polymorphisms in the melatonin receptor 1a gene in S and EC ewes [31]. Similar associations were reported in other breeds, but a comprehensive review [32] suggested that these polymorphisms were at best breed-specific, rather than species-wide, indicators of genetic variation in seasonal breeding.
The objective of our study was to genetically improve ewe fertility during the annual spring joining period. However, there has also been interest in identifying methods to improve ewe reproductive efficiency in a wider range of out-of-season and accelerated lambing systems [33]. The potential performance of S ewes in accelerated lambing was evaluated by exposing lactating S ewes to rams in spring [16]. When lactating S ewes were joined with rams in March at approximately 60 d postpartum, 76% of the ewes became pregnant and 62% lambed, indicating only modest effects of season and lactation on pregnancy rates. However, when lactating S ewes were joined with rams at an average of 40 d postpartum in May, 53% of the ewes mated within 39 d of joining but only 21% of the ewes produced viable offspring, which suggest problems with maintenance of pregnancy and placental insufficiency. Selection to improve reproductive performance in accelerated lambing is challenging [26]. Our results suggest that genetic improvement of reproduction in accelerated and other multi-season lambing systems could be achieved as a correlated response to selection for fertility in May and June in nucleus flocks used to produce commercial replacement ewes.
Correlated responses to selection to improve fertility were modest. EBV for litter size increased by 0.1% per year through Phase 2 but plateaued in Phase 3. The heritability estimate of 0.04 ± 0.02 for litter size in the current study was lower than both the average heritability of 0.11 for litter size in sheep [21] and the estimate of 0.10 obtained by using data from Phase 1 of the current study [10]. These results suggest that expression of additive effects on litter size may have been constrained as selection for fertility progressed. Rapid rebreeding of lactating S ewes led to an enhanced frequency of fetal deaths, perhaps due to inadequate placental development [16]. Negative trends in EBV for maternal birth weights through Phase 2 could likewise be associated with greater fetal losses. Thus, we hypothesized that the association between ovulation rate and litter size may have been weakened in ewes that conceived in spring, thereby limiting expression of additive variation in litter size.
EBV for body weight at 60, 90, and 120 d increased by approximately 0.5%/year, perhaps in association with secondary selection for BW in replacement lambs. Screening ram lambs based on SC and mating behavior did not always favor the largest lambs, but it is likely that some positive selection on BW occurred. There were no significant correlated responses in maternal effects on postnatal BW.
Correlated responses in birth weight were more complex than those observed for postnatal BW. EBV for birth weight increased until 1996 but then slowly declined. However, maternal effects on birth weight declined in Phase 1 and, particularly, in Phase 2. Occasional problems with underweight lambs and reduced survival were observed in Phase 2. As a result, some positive emphasis was placed on EBV for maternal birth weight in the selection of ram lambs in Phase 3 and appeared to have a positive effect on lamb birth weight. These results were consistent with seasonal differences in birth weight in these populations and larger estimates of additive maternal variation for birth weight in autumn-born lambs [17]. Our findings, and those of Goff et al. [16], suggested that ewes that conceive in spring may be less able to maintain resulting pregnancies. Selection increased the likelihood that ewes would conceive and maintain pregnancy, but, initially at least, at a possible cost in terms of reduced lamb birth weights.
Correlated responses in SC were positive and largest (0.5%/year) at 90 d of age. Maximum testicular growth occurs at approximately 90 d of age [34], suggesting that selection to improve fertility accelerated sexual development. The impact of screening ram lambs for breeding soundness could not be quantified because of the small number of lambs that were evaluated, but it may have contributed to correlated responses in SC. Selection for serving capacity in ram lambs may also have contributed to changes in ewe fertility, but should not have biased comparisons between S and EC ewes in Phase 2, when all ewes were mated to the same rams.
Our findings indicate that selection can be used to improve realized fertility (i.e., the proportion of ewes that subsequently lamb) in ewes joined in May and June and that changes in sensitivity to ram effect did not meaningfully contribute to the selection response. Genetic antagonisms with other performance traits were small, although a modest antagonism with maternal breeding values for birth weight may require attention in selection programs to maintain adequate lamb birth weights. The heritability of litter size in autumn lambing was lower than expected and could potentially limit the response to selection for prolificacy. This study is consistent with previous ones, i.e. that selection in these ewes shortened the seasonal anestrous by delaying the onset of anestrous until mid- to late summer with no corresponding delay in the onset of the next breeding season.
The datasets used for the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Hafez ESE. Studies on the breeding and reproduction of the ewe. J Agric Sci. 1952;42:189–265.
Dzakuma JM, Harris DL. Computer modeling of sheep reproduction: I. An algorithm for quantifying anestrous cycles in ewes. J Anim Sci. 1989;67:2197–211.
Chemineau P, Daveau A, Cognié Y, Aumont G, Chesneau D. Seasonal ovulatory activity exists in tropical Creole female goats and Black Belly ewes subjected to a temperate photoperiod. BMC Physiol. 2004;4:12.
Haresign W. Manipulation of reproduction in sheep. J Reprod Fertil. 1992;45:127–39.
Thrift FA, Dutt RH, Woolfolk PG. Phenotypic selection and time trends to date of birth selection in Southdown sheep. J Anim Sci. 1971;33:1216–23.
Lindahl IL, Terrill CE. Lambing performance of Morlam ewes in 1972. J Anim Sci. 1975;41:251.
Fahmy MH. Development of DLS breed of sheep: genetic and phenotypic parameters of date of lambing and litter size. Can J Anim Sci. 1990;70:771–8.
Smith JF, Johnson DL, Reid TC. Genetic parameters for performance of flocks elected for advanced lambing date. Proc New Zealand Soc Anim Prod. 1992;52:50.
Fossceco SL, Notter DR. Heritabilities and genetic correlations of body weight, testis growth and ewe lamb reproductive traits in crossbred sheep. Anim Sci. 1995;60:185–95.
Al-Shorepy SA, Notter DR. Genetic variation and covariation for ewe reproduction, lamb growth, and lamb scrotal circumference in a fall-lambing sheep flock. J Anim Sci. 1996;74:1490–8.
Al-Shorepy SA, Notter DR. Response to selection for fertility in a fall-lambing sheep flock. J Anim Sci. 1997;75:2033–40.
Vincent JN, Mcuown EC, Notter DR. Duration of the seasonal anestrus in sheep selected for fertility in fall lambing. J Anim Sci. 2000;78:1149–54.
Notter DR, Chemineau P. Nocturnal melatonin and prolactin plasma concentrations in sheep selected for fertility in autumn lambing. J Anim Sci. 2001;79:2895–901.
Notter DR, Smith JK, Akers RM. Patterns of estrous cycles, estrous behavior, and circulating prolactin in spring and summer in ewes selected for autumn lambing and exposed to ambient or long-day photoperiods. Anim Reprod Sci. 2011;129:30–6.
Goff KJ, Knight JW, Pelzer KD, Akers RM, Notter DR. Circannual changes in progesterone secretion in intact ewes, luteinizing hormone secretion in ovariectomized estradiol-implanted ewes, and prolactin secretion in three sheep breeds anticipated to differ in seasonality of reproduction. Anim Repro Sci. 2013;138:194–202.
Goff KJ, Notter DR, Vanimisetti HB, Knight JW. Strategies for rapid rebreeding of lactating ewes in the spring. Animal. 2014;8:968–74.
Al-Shorepy SA, Notter DR. Genetic parameters for lamb birth weight in spring and autumn lambing. Anim Sci. 1998;67:327–32.
Misztal I, Tsuruta S, Lourenco D, Masuda Y, Aguilar I, Legarra A, Vitezica FZ. Manual for BLUPF90 family of programs. Athens: University of Georgia. https://nce.ads.uga.edu/wiki/lib/exe/fetch.php?media=blupf90_all7.pdf. Accessed 18 Oct 2019.
Bradford GE. Breeding and selection chapter. In SID sheep production handbook (2002 edition). Englewood: American Sheep Industry Association Inc.; 2003. p. 1–79.
Spiegelhalter DJ, Best NG, Carlin BP, van der Linde A. Bayesian measures of model complexity and fit. J R Statist Soc B. 2002;64:583–639.
Safari E, Fogarty NM, Gilmour AR. A review of genetic parameter estimates for wool, growth, meat and reproduction traits in sheep. Livest Prod Sci. 2005;92:271–89.
Sorenson DA, Kennedy BW. Analysis of selection experiments using mixed model methodology. J Anim Sci. 1986;63:245–58.
Kennedy BW. Use of mixed model methodology in analysis of designed experiments. In: Gianola D, Hammond K, editors. Advances in statistical methods for genetic improvement of livestock. Berlin: Springer-Verlag; 1990. p. 77–97.
Thomas DL, Whiteman JV. Effects of substituting Finnsheep and Dorset breeding for Rambouillet breeding. II. Productivity of fall-lambing ewes. J Anim Sci. 1979;48:265–70.
Notter DR, Copenhaver JS. Performance of Finnish Landrace crossbred ewes under accelerated lambing. I. Fertility, prolificacy and ewe productivity. J Anim Sci. 1980;51:1033–42.
Vanimisetti HB, Notter DR. Opportunities for genetic evaluation of reproductive performance in accelerated lambing systems. Livest Sci. 2012;148:134–45.
Rosa HJD, Bryant MJ. The 'ram effect' as a way of modifying the reproductive activity in the ewe. Small Ruminant Res. 2002;45:1–16.
Fabre-Nys C, Kendrick KM, Scaramuzzi RJ. The "ram effect": new insights into neural modulation of the gonadotropic axis by male odors and socio-sexual interactions. Front Neurosci. 2015;9:111.
Hazlerigg DG, Simonneaux V. Seasonal regulation of reproduction in mammals. In: Plant TM, Zeleznik A, editors. Knobil and Neill's physiology of reproduction. Amsterdam: Elsevier; 2015. p. 1575–1604.
Lincoln GA, Andersson H, Loudon A. Clock genes in calendar cells as the basis of annual timekeeping in mammals – a unifying hypothesis. J Endocrinol. 2003;179:1–13.
Notter DR, Cockett NE, Hadfield TS. Evaluation of melatonin receptor 1a as a candidate gene influencing reproduction in a fall-lambing sheep flock. J Anim Sci. 2003;81:912–7.
Notter DR, Cockett NE. Opportunities for detection and use of QTL influencing seasonal reproduction in sheep: a review. Genet Sel Evol. 2005;37:S39–53.
Hunter GL. Accelerated lambing Part 2 Increasing the frequency of pregnancy in sheep. In: Hemming D, editor. Animal science reviews 2010. Wallingford: CABI; 2011. p. 115–38.
Notter DR, Lucas JR, McClaugherty FS, Copenhaver JS. Breed group differences in testicular growth patterns in spring-born ram lambs. J Anim Sci. 1985;60:622–31.
The authors thank Mr. Wimpy Williams and Mr. Phil Keffer for assistance in the execution of this study and for care and management of the experimental animals.
This research was conducted when MA was a visiting scientist at Virginia Tech with financial support from Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Publication costs were paid by the Virginia Tech Open-Access Subvention Fund.
Department of Animal and Poultry Sciences, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, 24061, USA
Masood Asadi-Fozi, Heather L. Bradford & David R. Notter
Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, 76169-133, Kerman, Iran
Masood Asadi-Fozi
Heather L. Bradford
David R. Notter
DN designed and managed the selection experiment and maintained the data. MA and HB carried out the statistical analyses. MA and DN drafted the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Correspondence to David R. Notter.
All management practices and experimental procedures used in this study were reviewed and approved by the Virginia Tech Animal Care Committee.
Asadi-Fozi, M., Bradford, H.L. & Notter, D.R. Direct and correlated responses to selection for autumn lambing in sheep. Genet Sel Evol 52, 56 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12711-020-00577-z
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12711-020-00577-z


text:
import meow from 'meow';
import logSymbols from 'log-symbols';
import chalk from 'chalk';
import terminalLink from 'terminal-link';
import ora from 'ora';
import {getSimilarPackages, checkNames} from './utilities.js';

const cli = meow(
	`
	Usage
	  $ npm-name <name> …

	Options
	  --similar  Find similar package names too

	Examples
	  $ npm-name chalk
	  ${logSymbols.error} ${chalk.bold('chalk')} is unavailable

	  $ npm-name abc123
	  ${logSymbols.warning} ${chalk.bold('abc123')} is squatted

	  $ npm-name hello --similar
	  ${logSymbols.warning} ${chalk.bold('hello')} is squatted
	  Similar names:
	  ${logSymbols.success} ${chalk.bold('hullo')} is available
	  ${logSymbols.success} ${chalk.bold('how-do-you-do')} is available

	  $ npm-name unicorn-cake
	  ${logSymbols.success} ${chalk.bold('unicorn-cake')} is available

	  $ npm-name @ava
	  ${logSymbols.error} ${chalk.bold('@ava')} is unavailable

	  $ npm-name @abc123
	  ${logSymbols.success} ${chalk.bold('@abc123')} is available

	  $ npm-name @sindresorhus/is unicorn-cake
	  ${logSymbols.error} ${chalk.bold('@sindresorhus/is')} is unavailable
	  ${logSymbols.success} ${chalk.bold('unicorn-cake')} is available

	Exits with code 0 when all names are available or 2 when any names are taken
	`,
	{
		flags: {
			similar: {
				type: 'boolean'
			}
		}
	}
);

const {input} = cli;

if (input.length === 0) {
	console.error('Specify one or more package names');
	process.exit(1);
}

function log(pkg) {
	const styledName = chalk.bold(pkg.name);
	const linkedName = pkg.isOrganization ?
		terminalLink(styledName, `https://www.npmjs.com/org/${pkg.name.slice(1)}`) :
		terminalLink(styledName, `https://www.npmjs.com/package/${pkg.name}`);

	if (pkg.isAvailable) {
		console.log(`${logSymbols.success} ${styledName} is available`);
	} else if (pkg.isSquatter) {
		console.log(`${logSymbols.warning} ${linkedName} is squatted`);
	} else {
		console.log(`${logSymbols.error} ${linkedName} is unavailable`);
	}
}

const spinner = ora(`Checking ${input.length === 1 ? 'name' : 'names'} on npmjs.com…`).start();

(async () => {
	const packages = await checkNames(input);

	spinner.stop();

	for (const package_ of packages) {
		log(package_);

		if (!cli.flags.similar) {
			continue;
		}

		const similarCheckingSpinner = ora('Checking for similar names on npmjs.com…').start();

		// eslint-disable-next-line no-await-in-loop
		const similarPackages = await getSimilarPackages(package_);

		similarCheckingSpinner.stop();

		if (similarPackages.length > 0) {
			console.log('Similar names:');

			for (const package_ of similarPackages) {
				log(package_);
			}

			console.log();
		} else {
			console.log('No similar packages found.\n');
		}
	}

	process.exit(packages.every(package_ => Boolean(package_.isAvailable || package_.isSquatter)) ? 0 : 2);
})().catch(error => {
	spinner.stop();
	console.error(error);
	process.exit(1);
});

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Chicago Construction News
A look at 14 construction sites around River North
New hotels, rentals, and upscale condos are on the way to Chicago's River North neighborhood
By AJ LaTrace Oct 4, 2017, 11:51am CDT
Harry Carmichael
One week ago, Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced that the city had hit another post-recession construction record number of active tower cranes in a single calendar year. This year, Chicago has seen 54 tower cranes rise into the skyline to build new high-rise projects—a notable uptick from the 48 active tower cranes that worked on Chicago construction sites in 2016.
While the dozens of tower cranes have been spotted at construction sites all over the city, downtown's River North area has been a major benefactor of Chicago's high-rise construction boom. Since the deep freeze of the recession thawed out, numerous new high-rises have been constructed in River North, and many more are still on the way.
The last time to took a look at construction sites in River North was not quite three months ago, and already, a lot of progress has been made in that time. Here's a quick tour of what's under construction in the downtown neighborhood.
↑ 8 East Huron
This glassy new apartment tower is close to wrapping up exterior work. Designed by architects Valerio Dewalt Train Associates, the new 26-story tower will feature 101 rentals, 31 parking stalls, and 2,756 square feet of ground level retail space. The building's residential amenities are primarily concentrated on the 24th floor and include such perks as a fitness center, demonstration kitchen, outdoor grilling stations, and infinity pool.
↑ Hubbard221
This new mixed-use development is a twofer with one tower being office space while the other is luxury apartments. A lot of progress has been made since earlier this summer as workers rushed to complete the project. Apartments in the 193-unit tower are now leasing with a one-month free rent incentive. The curved glassy facade of the shorter office tower has been finished, filling in what was a challenging development location.
↑ 3Eleven
Yet another River North luxury apartment tower is prepping for its grand debut. Dubbed 3eleven, the new 25-story tower at 311 W. Illinois Street will welcome its first tenants in January 2018. With a tower design from FitzGerald Associates Architects and interiors by Juan Gabriel Moreno Architects, the project takes a much more design-focused approach compared to many of the other new towers currently sprouting up in River North. The upcoming development includes 245 rental apartments, a 109-stall parking garage and 3,100 square feet of ground-level retail space.
↑ Renelle on the River
Construction on this new upscale condo development is just getting started. Following what seemed like a full year of demolition and site prep, the upcoming 18-story building recently landed a full construction permit estimated at $52 million. Developed by Chicago's Belgravia Group and designed by bKL Architecture, Renelle features 50 high-end, three- and four-bedroom residences. According to its developers, condominium pricing starts around $1.3 million and can well exceed $3 million for some of the roomier, higher floor penthouse units.
↑ Moxy Hotel
Construction in River North also includes the Moxy hotel at 530 N. LaSalle Street. Unlike many of the other projects in the area, the upcoming Moxy is being built as of right without any changes to zoning. Construction permits issued late last year helped solve the mystery behind this short mid-rise project from River North's Albert Friedman and partner White Lodging Services. Many details remain murky, but the official Moxy website signals a mid-2018 opening.
↑ Found Hotel
This former SRO is currently undergoing a transformation into a new boutique hotel. Located at 611 N. Wells, the four-story structure will eventually reopen as the Found Hotel and feature 60 guest rooms, a ground floor cafe, and a basement speakeasy. The 25,000-square-foot Olympia Building is situated in the heart of River North's high-rise construction boom with the new 640 N. Wells and Gallery on Wells located nearby.
↑ Gallery on Wells
This recently completed high-rise at 637 N. Wells Street has just opened to renters. Standing at 39 stories, the new apartment tower offers a 442-unit mix of studios, convertibles, one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments. In addition, the development features one of downtown's largest amenity decks occupying nearly the entire roof of the adjacent office building at 640 N. LaSalle.
↑ 640 North Wells
The new apartment tower at 640 N. Wells joins a crowded luxury rental market in River North. And as such, the brand new development is offering specials and same-day leases and immediate move-ins to tenants. Designed by Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture, the offset stacked structure stands at 23 stories and delivers 250 new apartments and 8,000 square feet of ground-level retail to the River North neighborhood.
↑ Marlowe
The 15-story Marlowe comes from Miami's Lennar Multifamily Communities and Chicago architects Antunovich Associates. Similar to the under-construction Moxy hotel, Marlowe is being constructed under existing zoning without any changes. In total, the new development will feature 176 apartments, garage parking for 84 vehicles, over 10,000 square feet of ground floor commercial space, and shared amenity space for its tenants.
↑ The Ardus
North Side developer Cedar Street Cos. are transforming a former office building and adding a new glassy addition to make way for 149 new apartments on LaSalle Street. Dubbed Flats River North, the new development will feature just 31 parking spaces and will boast a large rooftop amenity deck as well as 10,000 square feet of ground level retail space.
↑ 110 W. Huron Street
Yet one more hotel is joining the slew of new offerings for River North. Located just across the street from competing hotels such as the Godfrey and Felix, the upcoming 17-story hotel for Huron Street will feature 206 guest rooms, ground floor retail space, a rooftop restaurant, and no on-site parking. With a glassy design by NORR Architects, work is just beginning in earnest on the new hotel project.
↑ 400 W. Huron
This newly completed 15-story condo tower features only 26 units. However, being originally proposed and unveiled over three years ago, 400 W. Huron has helped to kickstart the low-density, low unit count but high-end condo market that has emerged in River North over the last few years.
↑ The Hudson
Previously a vacant lot at the corner of Chicago and Hudson avenues, the site of The Hudson is just a stone's throw from the old Montgomery Ward Company Complex that houses Groupon and other high-tech startups. The recently completed rental tower delivers another 240 apartments to the neighborhood's luxury rental market. And like other new rental towers in the River North area, The Hudson is offering free rent specials and immediate move-ins.
↑ The Ronsley
A rare adaptive reuse project for River North, this new development from LG Development Group will feature upscale condos. While high-end condos have taken a backseat to luxury apartments since the real estate crash and recession, The Ronsley and a handful of other projects in River North are delivering new for-sale inventory for the area.
Another look at construction sites around River North [Curbed Chicago]
Chicago hits another post-recession construction record [Curbed Chicago]
Next Up In Chicago Construction News
Work begins on third and final Wolf Point skyscraper
Chicago home construction lags behind other big cities, says report
New development in North Lawndale aims to catalyze community
In the West Loop, another 200 rental units break ground along Van Buren
River North Victorian wedged between high-rises to become office space The old row home's new owner plans to rehab the existing building and utilize it for offices.
Should you move to Chicago? Everything you need to know to help you decide whether to put down roots.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Weasley mum Walters talks to Latino Review
December 8, 2003 at 12:35 PM ET
Cheeser Wizard News (via Latino Review)
Changes abound in the way the Weasley family dresses in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, according to actor Julie Walters , who portrays mother Molly:
"We had a French costume designer [Jany Temime]," she sighs happily. "The Weasleys look so chic [now]. I've still got my poncho, but it hangs in a different way. It has got these beads that pull it down. Just gorgeous."
Walters jokes that she hasn't got a lot to do in the third Potter flick (sounds a lot like Dame Maggie Smith's comments back in July):
"I've only got a couple of lines," she laughs. "I think 'Hello!' is one of them. 'Harry, good to see ya.' I think that might be another one. But it is lovely going back each year to do it. It is really lovely."


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This tournament will use the Leaguevine real-time scoring system. The schedule and standings for this tournament can be seen on any smartphone browser by going to m.leaguevine.com. Please enter updates for your team into this site as often as possible (preferably between each point). This allows every player to know the status of every other game at all times, and gives each team a point-by-point history of their tournament. Further, because all updates will be posted on m.leaguevine.com, you will not need to report scores to Tournament Central.
If your smartphone has any issues with m.leaguevine.com, simply click the big blue refresh button as well as your browser's refresh button. If it still does not work, your phone is likely too old and you must use a different phone (almost all smartphones 2010 or later work).
We are using a real-time scoring system for this tournament. This means you will not report your scores to Tournament Central between games. Instead, you or one of your players are expected to post updates between each point of your games by going to m.leaguevine.com and entering updates there. Thus, all players will know the current status of all other games going on, and you will have a point by point history of all your games from the tournament. If you have any issues, just click your browser's refresh button.
Good luck running your event, and please let Mark (mark@leaguevine.com) know if you have any questions or any issues!


text:
Jurita
Laturi
Muuntaja
JultikaUniversity of Oulu repository
Keap1 expression has independent prognostic value...
Metformin diminishes the unfavourable impact of Nrf2 in breast cancer patients with type 2 diabetes by: Urpilainen, Elina Published: (2019)
Emerging novel prognostic markers in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma by: Isohookana, Joel Published: (2018)
Clinical impact of antioxidant enzymes Prx6 and Trx and their regulators Nrf1 and Nrf2 in diffuse Large B-cell lymphoma by: Kari, Esa Published: (2020)
Proteins of the retinoblastoma pathway, FEN1 and MGMT are novel potential prognostic biomarkers in pancreatic adenocarcinoma by: Isohookana, Joel Published: (2018)
Nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factors 1 and 2 are able to define the worst prognosis group among high-risk diffuse large B cell lymphomas treated with R-CHOEP by: Kari, Esa Published: (2019)
Isohookana, J., Haapasaari, KM., Soini, Y. et al. Keap1 expression has independent prognostic value in pancreatic adenocarcinomas. Diagn Pathol 10, 28 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13000-015-0258-4
Keap1 expression has independent prognostic value in pancreatic adenocarcinomas
Isohookana, Joel1,2,3; Haapasaari, Kirsi-Maria1; Soini, Ylermi2;
Karihtala, Peeter3
1Department of Pathology, Medical Research Center Oulu, Oulu University Hospital and University of Oulu, P.O. Box 50, 90020, Oulu University Hospital, Finland
2Department of Pathology and Forensic Medicine, University of Eastern Finland, Cancer Center of Eastern Finland, PO Box 1627, 70211, Kuopio, Finland
3Department of Oncology and Radiotherapy, Medical Research Center Oulu, Oulu University Hospital and University of Oulu, P.O. Box 22, 90029, Oulu University Hospital, Finland
PDF Full Text (PDF, 1.2 MB)
Persistent link:
http://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi-fe2021112657184
Springer Nature, 2015
Background: Oxidative stress and redox-regulating enzymes may potentially accelerate pancreatic carcinogenesis and also affect chemoresistance. Recently major antioxidant response regulator NF-E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) has been linked to poor prognosis in pancreatic cancer. Nrf2 activity is strictly regulated by oxidative stress sensor Kelch-like ECH-associated protein 1 (Keap1). Oxidative DNA damage can be estimated e.g. by 8-hydroxy-2′-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) expression. The aim of this study was to evaluate the expression and possible prognostic role of Keap1 and 8-OHdG in pancreatic cancer.
Methods: We assessed immunohistochemically the expression of 8-OHdG and Keap1 in precisely characterized material of 69 pancreatic adenocarcinoma patients.
Results: Nuclear 8-OHdG associated with cytoplasmic Keap1 expression (p = 0.031) and was overexpressed in patients with smaller tumors (p = 0.016) and in tumors without lymph node involvement (p = 0.051). Cytoplasmic 8-OHdG expression associated with higher differentiation (p = 0.023). Cytoplasmic Keap1 immunostaining associated with N0-staging (p = 0.0009) and the absence of distant metastases (p = 0.018). Membranous Keap1 associated with longer relapse-free survival (p = 0.041) and pancreatic cancer-specific survival (median survival 14 vs. 32 months; p = 0.029) and was in multivariate analysis an independent prognostic factor of pancreatic cancer-related death (HR 2.66, 95%CI 1.23–5.75).
Conclusions: Oxidative stress and main redox regulators may participate in pancreatic carcinogenesis and Keap1 appears as a promising prognostic factor in pancreatic cancer. Future studies should also concentrate on potential link between redox regulation and chemoresistance in pancreatic cancer.
Diagnostic pathology
ISSN-L:
OADOI:
https://oadoi.org/10.1186/s13000-015-0258-4
Type of Publication:
A1 Journal article – refereed
Field of Science:
3122 Cancers
8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine
Antioxidant enzymes
Keap1
© 2015 Isohookana et al.; licensee BioMed Central. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Oulu University Library
FI-90014 OULUN YLIOPISTO
Tel. +358 294 48 0000


Learn about the heritage of Gosport through the eyes of the unique characters who helped shape it.
Follow a series of large 3D sculptures of the historic characters of Gosport, made by local young people, on a self guided trail along the High Street, from the Ferry Terminal and up to the Naval and Local Studies Library. A free leaflet will help you to understand the significance of these people to our heritage.
On Saturday 15th September, children completing the trail will receive a certificate and sticker at the finish point. There will also be a linking display of artwork at the Ferry Terminal and a small exhibition in SEARCH.
Leaflets will be available from the Tourist Information at the Bus Station; the Naval and Local Studies Library and the Discovery Centre in the High Street; and SEARCH in Clarence Road.
The trail is over public pathways and may involve some road crossing.
Parking, toilets, baby changing facilities etc are available at the start and end points. Refreshments available in town or at the Bookworm Cafe in the Discovery Centre.
This late entry event is not listed in the Gosport HODs printed programme, but will take place.


text:
"""
Verifies that app bundles are built correctly.
"""

import TestGyp

import sys

if sys.platform == 'darwin':
  test = TestGyp.TestGyp(formats=['ninja', 'make', 'xcode'])

  test.run_gyp('test.gyp', chdir='app-bundle')

  test.build('test.gyp', test.ALL, chdir='app-bundle')

  # Binary
  test.built_file_must_exist('Test App Gyp.app/Contents/MacOS/Test App Gyp',
                             chdir='app-bundle')

  # Info.plist
  info_plist = test.built_file_path('Test App Gyp.app/Contents/Info.plist',
                                    chdir='app-bundle')
  test.must_exist(info_plist)
  test.must_contain(info_plist, 'com.google.Test App Gyp')  # Variable expansion

  # Resources
  test.built_file_must_exist(
      'Test App Gyp.app/Contents/Resources/English.lproj/InfoPlist.strings',
      chdir='app-bundle')
  test.built_file_must_exist(
      'Test App Gyp.app/Contents/Resources/English.lproj/MainMenu.nib',
      chdir='app-bundle')

  # Packaging
  test.built_file_must_exist('Test App Gyp.app/Contents/PkgInfo',
                             chdir='app-bundle')
  test.built_file_must_match('Test App Gyp.app/Contents/PkgInfo', 'APPLause',
                             chdir='app-bundle')

  test.pass_test()


text:
Monday: Spencerport, Brockport and West Win
March 24, 2009 - There were only three games played on Monday. Spencerport was a 15-8 winner over the Lightning. Hilton won a 14-7 game over Brockport and McQuaid Jesuit lost at Corning West 12-6.
Spencerport 15 - Greece Lightning 8
-- Although holding it close for three quarters, going 3-2, 9-6, 11-7, Spencerport scored four goals in the fourth quarters on their way to a 15-8 victory over hosts Greece Lightning (Arc/Oly).
Scoring for Spencerport were Nick Fisher (1g-5a), Austin Hintz (7g) who scored four of his goals in the second half, Kyle Mark (4g-1a), Kristian Barbato (2a), Kevin Heacock (3a), Sean Demers (2g-5a) and Pat Crumb (1g). Rocky Gruttadaria 11s/8ga.
Scoring for the Lightning were Billy Slapar (2g-1a), Kendrick Heintzelman (1g-3a), Joe Malovics (1g), Brandon Wood (1g-1a), Richard Fischer (2g) and Ton Dyer (1a). Freshman goalie Sean Trost had 20s/15ga for the Lightning.
Hilton 14 - Brockport 7
-- It was Hilton over Brockport, 14-7 in this non-league game at Hilton.
Scoring for Hilton were Mike Crumlish (3g-1a), Kyle Youngman (3g-2a), Jimmy Gaffney (2g-2a), Steve Bernston (3g-3a), Matt Fracassi (1g-3a), Mike Barbone (1g) and Mike Meeks (1g). Junior goalie Ken Stiles had 10s/7ga for the Cadets (3-1).
No report from Brockport.
Corning West 12 - McQuaid Jesuit 6
-- Corning West (Section 4) took a 3-0 first quarter to an 8-1 half, before defeating visiting McQuaid Jesuit 12-6 in non-league action. The Vikings (5-1) have earned wins against Geneva, Bath and HFL at the start of the season, with their only loss to Corning East.
Scoring for Corning West were Austin Rose (2g-1a), Caleb Tuttle (2g-2a) and Deiter Treusdell (2g). Nate Rucco, Kyle Clarkson, Brian Guilfoyle, Andy Cole, Braden McDonald and Paul Andrews each added one goal for the Vikings.
Scoring for McQuaid Jesuit were
Tim Caton (1g), Nick Wolak (1g-1a), Eric Wright (3g) and Bobby Stuver (1g). Freshman goalie Pat Sheridan recorded 10s/12ga for the Knights.


Among the Asian, numerous ethnic groups have their personal following birth dietary care. This is primarily based on the belief that the health of the mother is significantly weakened throughout the childbearing period and the labour procedure exactly where lots of blood is lost.
For the Ethnic Chinese, the initial 30 days after kid birth is known as the 'confinement period'. It is also the most crucial 'window period' exactly where the mother's body is in a position to absorb the needed nutrients in it is maximum capacity. During the confinement period, the new mother is to stay at house and avoid going out so as to minimise the exposure to wind (adverse weather condition) and crowd.
A reside-in confinement lady is generally employed to do the cooking and caring of the mother and the new born.
There are variations in the kind of meals and the cooking amongst the various dialect groups (or different provinces in China). Nevertheless, the primary ingredients used are basically the same.
In Chinese Confinement meals, the primary ingredients and herbs utilized are Ginger, wine and black vinegar.
Ginger is thought to possess warm and heaty properties which is required to 'drive away the winds' in the physique. The pores of the skins are believed to have opened up and the joints loosen to prepare for labour and stay in a loose state for a short period after delivery. This is when the 'winds' from the climate will enter the body if 1 is exposed to a windy environment. The ginger would counter the coolness and the wind impact on the body.
Black vinegar is used to cleanse the womb of residual blood clot. It is generally cooked with Ginger and Pig trotters and simmer for a number of hours until the trotters are tender and tasty. This dish is cooked in large pot and eaten more than a number of days.
Wine particularly tonic wine is helpful in warming and nourishing the body. It is also believed to help in the blood production and circulatory process. Consequently, food or soup are cooked with lot of wine and ginger for this reason.
Confinement mothers are also encouraged to drink tonic wine. If she is breastfeeding, timing of wine consumption will have to be carefully planned out.
Another common dish for breastfeeding mum is fish soup cooked with ginger and raw papaya. It is extremely effective in inducing milk production by the milk glands.
This page was last modified on 2 March 2018, at 01:41.


text:
Buy Issue 2668
Articles from this issue:
COVER STORY: ENVIRONMENT: Don't spoil a good story with the facts ...
CANBERRA OBSERVED: Reshuffling the decks
AGRICULTURE: Unrestricted water trading a danger to farmers
FEDERAL ELECTION: Deregulation, drought, the dollar and the $7.5 billion surplus
FAMILY: AFA Conference calls for strengthening of marriage law
COMMENT: Poor always the losers in a middle class game
LETTERS: WA capitulates on Competition Policy (letter)
LETTERS: Taiwan and the UN (letter)
LETTERS: First Mildura Irrigation Trust (letter)
LETTERS: Rural economy (letter)
LETTERS: The future of rail (letter)
TAIWAN: Making strides in biotech
STRAWS IN THE WIND: Flying down to Rio / Shooting stars and black holes / Digging holes and filling them up again
RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS: Dr Pell's new appointment welcomed
Books promotion page
AFA Conference calls for strengthening of marriage law
by News Weekly
News Weekly, October 18, 2003
The National Conference of the Australian Family Association, held in Adelaide early this month, called for reform of the Family Law Act to protect children, and amendment to the Marriage Act to preserve the unique status of marriage as "the union of a man and a woman to the exclusion of all others voluntarily entered into for life."
The Conference heard a number of expert speakers discuss the state of marriage today, and the impact of falling fertility, unemployment and the growth of de facto relationships on the family.
One important address was given by Dr Bob Birrell, who heads the Centre for Population and Urban Research at Monash University.
Dr Birrell has conducted extensive research on the causes of the decline in fertility in Australia today, which has seen the number of children per female fall to around 1.7, well below the level required for the population to replace itself.
Marriage and fertility
Dr Birrell has found that married couples almost invariably wanted to have children, and the decline in fertility is closely related to a retreat from marriage towards de facto unions and people remaining unmarried.
Interestingly, he found that for married women aged between 35 and 39, almost all (87 per cent) had at least one child in the family; and that the proportion had not dropped over the past 15 years.
"The implication is that despite the hurdles married couples face in raising children, there has been no drop in the propensity for married women by the time they reach these ages to have a child. They may have fewer children than in the past because marriage tends to be delayed, but having children still seems to be central to married life."
In contrast, women living in de facto relationships were significantly less likely to have a child living in the family.
Dr Birrell said that this finding points to the significance for fertility levels of the sharp drop in marriage rates since 1986. He concluded, "The main proximate cause for declining fertility in Australia is a decline in the proportion of women who are married.
"This is where policy attention needs to be focussed if the decline in fertility is to be arrested."
Dr Birrell also found that there is a large and growing number of "unpartnered women" in their 30s, numbering around 450,000 in 2001. Of these, most had at one time been married, reflecting the rise in the divorce rate.
However, almost a third of unpartnered women aged between 30 and 34 were lone parents, and 44 per cent of unpartnered 35-39 year old women were lone parents. "These are very high proportions," he said.
He also found that the number of lone parents was increasing rapidly, reflecting the decline in marriage rates, particularly in low-income groups.
In a paper which complemented Dr Birrell's, Barry Maley, senior fellow at the Centre for Independent Studies, spoke on the need to reform the Family Law Act to protect the partners to a marriage and their children.
He said that the divorce rate is four times higher than 40 years ago and nearly one child in three is living apart from one of its natural parents. About 30 per cent of children are living with a lone parent.
He said: "The instability of marriage is at the heart of the disorder in our family system."
Unilateral decisions
Mr Maley said, "At present, four out of five divorces are granted on the application of only one spouse. It could be that this represents the wish of each partner to divorce, but in many cases it does not.
"So the present rules allow one spouse to impose an unwanted divorce on the other. And unilateral divorce permits one spouse to exploit the other without any restraint by divorce law."
The conference adopted a resolution which supported the introduction into the Family Law Act of a rebuttable presumption of shared parenting in the event of divorce, for the long-term welfare of the children involved.
It also announced that in 2004, the International Year of the Family, the Australian Family Association would mount a campaign to highlight the central place of marriage and family formation in a stable and prosperous society.
It will focus on the economic issues which affect the size of families and fertility rates, the need for taxation relief for families, and the consequences of high levels of male unemployment and under-employment in preventing family formation.
All you need to know about
the wider impact of transgenderism on society.
TRANSGENDER: one shade of grey, 353pp, $39.99
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NATIONAL AFFAIRS Cardinal Pell's appeal, June 5-6, 2019: An account from the live streaming
NATIONAL AFFAIRS A Q&A to clarify issues in Cardinal Pell's appeal
EDITORIAL Religious freedom: the political and legislative challenges
COVER STORY Transgender birth certificates: No sex, please, we're Victorian
COVER STORY John Setka, for all his faults, is the perfect scapegoat
COVER STORY Anthony Albanese: NSW left factional warlord takes charge
SPECIAL FEATURE Author Rod Dreher brings St Benedict to bear on our decline and fall
© Copyright NewsWeekly.com.au 2017
April 4, 2018, 6:45 pm


text:
← More news and notes about literary non-fiction online
Literary late bloomers: better late.., Part 2 →
Literary late bloomers: a club I'd like to join, Part 1 — My shallow youth
Posted on June 2, 2011	by anthonytoth
Portrait of a blogger as a non-prodigy
I had never been accused of being a prodigy-of-letters, blazing across the literary firmament, my brilliant prose eliciting gasps of wonder and awe from critics and the public at large. Mmmmmno..
There were days back in my shallow youth, though, when I actually thought I had a shot at modest success, if not the pinnacle of Pulitzer-crowned fame. After all, wasn't I covering all the right career bases? For starters, as a journalism major in college, I had worked my way up the ranks of the campus newspaper from photographer to photo chief to editor-in-chief. I was running a weekly newspaper! I wrote the editorials! Fraternities actually courted me to join!
Russell Baker, a journalist's journalist
Besides that, I was reading the columns of Russell Baker, a journalist's journalist, a writer with a keen eye, a sharp wit, and a pen that could make any politician's political sword fall limp and useless. I wanted to be like him, and so I read his words and tried on his wry, witty and wise writing style as if it were a warm and well-worn tweed jacket that would give me magical writing powers. Success-by-osmosis: I was certain that was possible.
And like all journalism students of my generation, I also wanted to be like Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford in All the President's Men. Dashing, determined, brash, principled. Saving the world by slaying one corrupt administration at a time. No, wait: that was Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein.
Hoffman and Redford: journalistic role-models for a generation
Anyway, my early success in college had led to a paid summer internship at the local daily, The Orlando Sentinel. I admit that this exciting opportunity did not get off to a sterling start. On my first day, an editor sat me down at the Metro desk, in front of a computer I did not know how to operate, and told me to transcribe the story (on deadline!) of a reporter speaking on the phone. Did I mention that my typing speed was about 18 words per minute? I was petrified. But I hunted and pecked my way through this trial-by-fire as best as I could, filling the article with so many typos it looked more like Hungarian than English. I thought that once the by-now-exasperated reporter was done dictating, I could clean up my copy and my first-day reputation could remain unsullied. But no.
"I need that story now!" the editor ordered. I was mortified. After looking at my horrible typing job, I was sure there would be snickering, sighing, and tut-tutting behind my back. And perhaps my journalistic career would come to a quick and merciful end. But the editors were generous and kind and understanding. They gave the skinny college kid a second chance. And a third. And a fourth. By the ninth chance, I was doing all right. I even ended up on the front page! It was a story about a woman who gave birth in a car on the way to the hospital. I was there at the Metro desk when one of the editors took the tip for the story over the phone. "Interns awaaay!" she said.
At summer's end, I returned to UCF to complete my studies. By this time I had finished my requirements for a journalism degree, and was taking all history courses, so I could also have a major in that subject. Why? I wanted to study history in grad school, to challenge myself intellectually, to make myself better qualified to write about the world.
As my graduation approached, I heard from the editor who had supervised my internship. She and her colleagues had thought enough of my work to offer me a job at one of the Sentinel's exotic, far-flung bureaus — in Volusia County. I was flattered, and feeling somewhat vindicated after my shaky start. But by that time I had already been accepted at Georgetown, where I would study Middle East history. So I walked away from my chance to start out as a cub reporter and end up who-knows-where?
But I had my sights set on bigger assignments than New Smyrna Beach City Council meetings. With my MA in hand, I thought there would be nothing between me and a bright future as Time magazine's Cairo bureau chief. Or so I thought.
I had begun to write this blog entry after reading an obituary a couple of days ago. It was the life of a woman who was herself a late bloomer, and her life reminded me a bit of mine. But as you can see, I got sidetracked. I'll get back on track tomorrow. Or the day after..


Rising temperatures, stronger storms, depleting global fertilizer supplies all mean extractive industrial agriculture is going to take a big hit from climate change. As the City's first climate plan percolates, a local foods revolution continues to quietly gather steam in San Antonio. Join the Alamo Group of the Sierra Club for a conversation with some of the leaders of the local food movement.
Guests include: Mitch Hagney is the founder of the LocalSprout Food Hub, an urban farm and solar-powered gathering spot for small food businesses. Kate Jaceldo is a co-founder of the Compost Queens, a family business tackling the food waste side of that equation, helping residents and businesses convert discarded food into fresh soil. Nadia Gaona is founder of San Antonio Permaculture, a group of people from diverse backgrounds who come together to learn and share experiences of growing their own food and to discuss ways to create more regenerative communities.
Hagney, Jaceldo, and Gaona join Lone Star Sierra Club organizer Greg Harman to discuss the burgeoning local foods movement that could help San Antonio evolve into a more sustainable city and ultimately a carbon sink, absorbing climate pollution from the atmosphere, a goal of the Sierra Club and Climate Action SA.
← San Antonio: Rise for Climate on Saturday!


We visited and participated in the OzTREKK Educational event on January 27th 2019 at the Hilton Toronto. Our IMG consultant Juliana and operations manager Sonia answered questions and spoke with parents and students regarding how MD Consultants can assist them with their international medical studies. Attendees learned about their options after completing medical school overseas, including coming back to Canada. Check out our pictures from the event!


text:
from quark_runtime import *

import quark.reflect

class no_spurious_cast_A(quark.reflect.Class):
    def _init(self):
        quark.reflect.Class._init(self)

    def __init__(self):
        super(no_spurious_cast_A, self).__init__(u"no_spurious_cast.A");
        (self).name = u"no_spurious_cast.A"
        (self).parameters = _List([])
        (self).fields = _List([])
        (self).methods = _List([])

    def construct(self, args):
        return no_spurious_cast.A()

    def _getClass(self):
        return None

    def _getField(self, name):
        return None

    def _setField(self, name, value):
        pass
no_spurious_cast_A.singleton = no_spurious_cast_A()

class no_spurious_cast_B(quark.reflect.Class):
    def _init(self):
        quark.reflect.Class._init(self)

    def __init__(self):
        super(no_spurious_cast_B, self).__init__(u"no_spurious_cast.B");
        (self).name = u"no_spurious_cast.B"
        (self).parameters = _List([])
        (self).fields = _List([])
        (self).methods = _List([])

    def construct(self, args):
        return no_spurious_cast.B()

    def _getClass(self):
        return None

    def _getField(self, name):
        return None

    def _setField(self, name, value):
        pass
no_spurious_cast_B.singleton = no_spurious_cast_B()

class no_spurious_cast_X_quark_int_(quark.reflect.Class):
    def _init(self):
        quark.reflect.Class._init(self)

    def __init__(self):
        super(no_spurious_cast_X_quark_int_, self).__init__(u"no_spurious_cast.X<quark.int>");
        (self).name = u"no_spurious_cast.X"
        (self).parameters = _List([u"quark.int"])
        (self).fields = _List([])
        (self).methods = _List([])

    def construct(self, args):
        return no_spurious_cast.X()

    def _getClass(self):
        return None

    def _getField(self, name):
        return None

    def _setField(self, name, value):
        pass
no_spurious_cast_X_quark_int_.singleton = no_spurious_cast_X_quark_int_()

class no_spurious_cast_Y(quark.reflect.Class):
    def _init(self):
        quark.reflect.Class._init(self)

    def __init__(self):
        super(no_spurious_cast_Y, self).__init__(u"no_spurious_cast.Y");
        (self).name = u"no_spurious_cast.Y"
        (self).parameters = _List([])
        (self).fields = _List([])
        (self).methods = _List([])

    def construct(self, args):
        return no_spurious_cast.Y()

    def _getClass(self):
        return None

    def _getField(self, name):
        return None

    def _setField(self, name, value):
        pass
no_spurious_cast_Y.singleton = no_spurious_cast_Y()

class quark_List_quark_String_(quark.reflect.Class):
    def _init(self):
        quark.reflect.Class._init(self)

    def __init__(self):
        super(quark_List_quark_String_, self).__init__(u"quark.List<quark.String>");
        (self).name = u"quark.List"
        (self).parameters = _List([u"quark.String"])
        (self).fields = _List([])
        (self).methods = _List([])

    def construct(self, args):
        return _List()

    def _getClass(self):
        return None

    def _getField(self, name):
        return None

    def _setField(self, name, value):
        pass
quark_List_quark_String_.singleton = quark_List_quark_String_()

class Root(object):
    def _init(self):
        pass
    def __init__(self): self._init()

    def _getClass(self):
        return None

    def _getField(self, name):
        return None

    def _setField(self, name, value):
        pass
Root.no_spurious_cast_A_md = no_spurious_cast_A.singleton
Root.no_spurious_cast_B_md = no_spurious_cast_B.singleton
Root.no_spurious_cast_X_quark_int__md = no_spurious_cast_X_quark_int_.singleton
Root.no_spurious_cast_Y_md = no_spurious_cast_Y.singleton

import no_spurious_cast


text:
Home > urban > HIDDEN IN THE DARK > Catty and Jeff
HIDDEN IN THE DARK Catty and Jeff
Author:Catty Category:urban Update time:2022-11-24 23:02:19
20th December, 6:30pm
Catty looked through the window. She was tired, she had been practicing for her new Christmas album which was planned to be launched on the 23rd of this month. She was a Christian, not to religious, she rarely sang gospel songs as a singer and her career as an actress was also good but not so religious. During Christmas seasons or festive seasons there was a need for extra cautions. With the enjoyment and celebrations one had to be extra careful because of certain rumors that may begin circulating about her as a celebrity and also because of recent increase on assassination. The popular Sadony, a Canadian musician was assassinated on the 12th of this month maybe for refusing something, launching her album before them or something. Nowadays most celebrities are turning the business to a do or die affair which is proving too dangerous for her.
In the midst of her thought, her manager, Mr. Hawkins entered, "Good evening Miss, what happened? Thinking?", he asked smiling and she returned the smile generously."Yeah, kind of, about how cautious we have to be during this festive seasons and Jade said he has taken care of my security, security measures has to be taken seriously. He said he has doubled the security and has canceled static security system", she said.
Hawkins brought out the small notebook from his pocket and a pen and sat down, " How much did he tell you was used for all this?"
"He didn tell me", she replied.
"And you didn ask?"
"Sorry, my mind wasn there", she said
"But you have to start worrying from now on and you will also have to avoid speaking anyhow in public, you know answering the press and also be careful about what you do in the public and who takes your picture, people can start using all these to start making rumors about you which can be disastrous to your career", Hawkins said.
"Well thats right, I want to rest throughout tomorrow, I don know if you can please help me reschedule all my activities and before 10:30, Ill make sure I call Jade to ask for the expenses of the Security maintenance and Ill send it to you unfailingly by 12 am. Hope youll be up by then, if not youll see it tomorrow", she said.
"Yes and make sure that for every money he spends, he has proof, okay?", he asked.
"Yeah, Im not a kid"
"who said you were? Anyways bye, well talk more tomorrow"
"I am taking a break tomorrow, remember?", she asked
"Oh sorry, the next. Have you told Jeff?" he asked.
Catty blushed, Jeff was an American rapper and singer, a popular and prosperous and talented one and was loved by many people in South America, North America and some parts of Africa and also parts of Asia--- and he was her boyfriend. They started dating not long and since then that has been the trending news.
"Oh Catty you
e blushing?", he teased smiling.
"Oh no, just you know, when people remind me something important that I forget, I get…"
"Get what? Anyways bye"
"Bye", Catty waved him as he left through the glass door that Catty felt needed to be changed.She sat down on the sofa in the room she was, took her cell phone and dialed Jeffs number. He picked and she became numb and her throat become dry, she was speechless, "Em… hi, Jeff"
"Hi, whatsup, how are you?" he asked.
Unlike her, Jeff was free."Fine and you?"
"Fine but Im tired right now…"
"Did I disturb you?", Catty asked because he sounded really tired.
"No, not at all, just that Ive been working on rescheduling my activities from 28th of December to the 30th because I have various programmes, my secretary also had to stay up, calling people, offices, cancelling appointments, deals and meetings. And many other things because tomorrow I plan to rest. You know, take the day off", he said.
Catty smiled at the coincidence." Yeah, thats what I called to tell you, I am also thinking of taking the day off tomorrow, to rest. Ive been practicing to launch my album on the 23rd of this month and the albums will be ready tomorrow. And Im so happy invitations have been sent earlier this week at least work has been reduced", she said.
"Yes, since we are both planning to take the day out, we can go out in the evening by 3:30, don you think so?", he asked.Catty was so happy she could burst, "Yeah, Im open to that idea".
"Okay, see you tomorrow, bye", Jeff said and hung up.Catty was so happy, they just started dating and both of them have been really busy, theyve not been going out as fresh couples do and anytime they
e together- it feels magical as Catty always put it.


text:
Старият град на Лидзян () е обект на Световното наследство на ЮНЕСКО в провинция Юннан, Южен Китай.

Той включва 4 отдели обекта, разположен в равнина с надморска височина 2400 метра при пресичането на няколко стратегически важни прохода през съседните планини:
 Стар град на Даян, основан при империята Мин, в който са запазени образци на китайската и тибетската архитектура, разположени в живописния пресечен терен;
 Езеро Хейлунтан, разположено непосродствено на север;
 Байша, селище на 8 километра северно, построено при империите Сун и Юен;
 Шухъ, селище на 4 километра северозападно от стария град на Даян.

Бележки

Обекти на световното наследство в Китай
Квартали в Китай
Юннан

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia