Dairy productivity of Kazakh horse mares

The work aimed to establish the influence of udder parameters of Kazakh mares on their formation of dairy productivity and the growth rate of foals during the milk period. The cup-shaped udder is characterized by a large base (the udder circumference at the base is 70.3 cm), the symmetrical arrangement of both udder lobes, with well-developed cylindrical nipples, the nipples are widely spaced between the two lobes. The round shaped udder is instead characterized by conical and short nipples and a smaller udder volume. For four months of lactation, 1051 liters of commercial milk were produced from mares with cup-shaped udder, while 823.6 liters- with round-shaped udder.The observation results showed that foals from mares with the cup-shaped and round - shapedudders on the first day of life were 39.8 and 39.6 kg of live weight, respectively, then after a month, it doubles, reaching 82.5 and 79.5 kg. The highest indicators of absolute gain - 42.7 kg, average daily gain - 1.42 kg, and relative gain -107.3% were observed in offspring with a cup-shaped udder. In foals delivered from mares with a round-shaped udder, the gain rates (39.9; 1.33 kg and 100.7%, respectively) were slightly lower.

Efficiency of University Course during the Covid-19 Pandemic

The education in this field of electronic banking has to adapt to rapid progress in technologies used for provision of banking services. The paper aims to shortly present the course of Electronic Services in Banking and to measure and compare the efficiency of education in the course before and during the Covid-19 pandemic. The efficiency of the educational process in the course was measured as learning gain by comparing pre-course and post-course tests' results using absolute gain, relative gain, and class average normalized gain during a period of five years. The education in the course was evaluated as effective in all observed cases. The additional surveys were conducted before and after the course completion detecting positive shifts in students’ knowledge and their adoption of electronic services in banking.

Quality-adjusted time without symptoms of disease progression or toxicity (Q-TWiST) of nivolumab plus cabozantinib (N+C) versus sunitinib (SUN) in treatment-naïve, advanced/metastatic renal cell carcinoma (aRCC): A post-hoc analysis of CheckMate 9ER (CM 9ER) data.

6567 Background: In CM 9ER (ClinicalTrial.gov identifier NCT03141177), N+C demonstrated significant progression-free survival gains (median: 17.0 vs. 8.3 months [mos]; hazard ratio [HR]: 0.52; P <.0001) and overall survival (OS) benefits (median: not reached vs. 29.5 mos; HR: 0.66; P <.001) vs. SUN as a first-line treatment for aRCC (Motzer et al. ASCO-GU 2021). To more fully understand the clinical benefits and risks associated with N+C vs. SUN from a patient perspective, we applied the Q-TWiST method to CM 9ER data to assess the quality-adjusted survival of these two treatment options, after a minimum follow-up of 16 mos (Sept DBL 2020). Methods: OS was partitioned into 3 states: time with any grade 3 or 4 adverse events (TOX), time without symptoms of disease or toxicity (TWiST), and time after progression (REL). The Q-TWiST is a metric that combines the quantity and quality (i.e., “utility”) of time spent in each of the 3 states TWiST, TOX, and REL. Sensitivity analyses estimated Q-TWiST across varying values of TOX and REL utilities. Subgroup analyses were conducted based on geographic region, programmed cell death-ligand 1 status, and International Metastatic RCC Database Consortium risk score. Based on minimal important difference norms (Revicki et al, Qual Life Res, 2006), a relative gain in Q-TWiST (i.e., Q-TWiST gains divided by OS in SUN) of ≥ 10% and ≥ 15% were qualified as “clinically important” and “clearly clinically important” gains, respectively. Non-parametric bootstrapping was used to generate 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results: In the intent-to-treat (ITT) population (N = 651), the Q-TWiST gain in the N+C arm was 4.0 mos (95% CI: 2.4, 5.7) vs. SUN arm, resulting in a relative gain of 16.9%. N+C patients had significantly longer TWiST (4.7 mos [95% CI: 2.9, 6.7]) and TOX (0.5 mos [95% CI: 0.1, 0.9]), but significantly shorter REL (-2.0 mos [95% CI: -4.1, -0.1]) than did SUN patients. Sensitivity analyses were consistent with the main analysis—the Q-TWiST benefit was robust across different ranges of U(TOX) and U(REL), with minimum and maximum Q-TWiST gains of 2.7 mos (11.7% relative gain) and 5.2 mos (22.2% relative gain), respectively. Subgroup analyses were consistent with the ITT population, with all results demonstrating ≥10% (“clinically important”) gains favoring N+C. Conclusions: In CM 9ER, N+C resulted in a statistically significant and “clearly clinically important” (i.e., ≥ 15%) longer quality-adjusted survival vs SUN. Most gains were driven by added time in relatively good health (i.e., TWiST). These Q-TWiST results may help inform both aRCC patients and their clinicians to assess more comprehensively the clinical benefits and risks of N+C and SUN in making critical treatment decisions. Clinical trial information: NCT03141177.

Russia–China–Pakistan Engagement in the Changing Global Context: Scrutinizing the Realist Logic of a Trilateral ‘Axis’

Russia’s robust engagement with China coupled with the recalibration of its ties with Pakistan, coming at the backdrop of Russia’s increasing estrangement with the West, Pakistan’s dissatisfaction with the USA over the suspension of security assistance, and India’s closeness toward the latter are leading scholars and political analysts to remark that Russia, China, and Pakistan are gradually inching toward the formalization of an ‘axis’ or a strategic ‘counter alliance’ in a bid to push for a greater bipolarity in world affairs. Though there are not enough signs to prove that Russia–China–Pakistan ‘axis’ is a reality, what is of significance is the emergence of converging interests among these three states that is gradually leading toward deeper engagements among them. It is in this broader context that the article will endeavor to analyze the factors propelling such a development and seek to discern the possible implications it may have on the time-tested ties between Russia and India. The study will move beyond the realist concepts of a power-centric and relative-gain approach that presents this trilateral engagement as a ‘counter alliance’ to the USA and India’s supremacy in the region; instead the article argues that the factors as presented in the realist narratives are inadequate to explain the nature of Russia–China–Pakistan engagement in the light of (a) Russia’s invested relationship with India that is steeped in historical nostalgia which makes it highly unlikely for Russia to turn against the latter; (b) second, Russia’s tactical relationship with Pakistan inevitably weakens one leg of the so-called axis; (c) third, Russia’s robust partnership with China invalidates the realist argument that Russia retains an interest in countering China’s growing status as a countervailing power in the region; (d) fourth, the ‘other’ ( i.e., the USA and India) vis-à-vis which the realists attempt to posit the Russia–China–Pakistan ‘axis’ as a counter strategic alliance is itself noninstitutionalized and fraught with many challenges.

Physical-motor indicators and specific skills of young basketball players after periodization training

abstract Basketball is a team sport with short, high intensity movement patterns and rapid and frequent changes of direction. Strength, agility and speed, in addition to specific technical skills, are essential for basketball athletes to achieve good performance. This study aims to verify the effect of a traditional periodization on physical-motor indicators and on specific technical skills in young basketball players. Nineteen young basketball players (15.4 ± 1.3 years), with at least 12 months of training experience, underwent a 5-month periodization. We assessed two physical-motor indicators (countermovement jump (CMJ) and anaerobic capacity (Line Drill)) and two specific technical skills (Dribbling and Shooting) at the PRE and POST training moments. Paired Student's t test was used to test the effect of training on physical-motor variables and technical skills. We calculated the 95% confidence interval of the average relative gain (Δ%) for each variable and analyzed the effect size through Cohen's d (p≤ 0.05). Significant differences were found between the PRE and POST moments in the CMJ (34.02 vs. 38.64 cm; p <0.001), in the Line-Drill (33.20 vs. 31.73 s; p <0.001), Dribbling (6.95 vs. 6.66 s; p <0.001), and Shooting (15.84 vs. 17.95 pts; p <0.001). Young school-level basketball players submitted to a 5-month training period were able to improve their physical-motor indicators and specific skills.

Genetic Gain and Traits Plasticity in Wheat Cultivars Developed for Irrigated Ecosystems of NWPZ of India From 1900 to 2016

Knowledge about the yield gain over the years due to associated changes in the yield component traits is essential for a critical understanding of yield-limiting factors. To estimate genetic gain in grain yield of wheat varieties released between 1900 and 2016 for North-Western Plain Zone of India and to identify agronomic and/or genetic basis of the realized gains, two sets of wheat genotypes with 14 and 10 varieties in each comprising mega varieties and two recently developed genotypes were evaluated, under timely sown tilled and early sown conservation agriculture conditions respectively for 4 consecutive years. The average annual genetic gain in grain yield since 1905 under timely sown condition was found to be 0.544% yr-1 over the average of all varieties and 0.822% yr-1 (24.27 kg ha-1 yr-1) over the first released variety, NP4. The realised mean yield increased from 2950 kg ha-1 of the variety NP 4 released in 1905 to 5649 kg ha-1 of HD 3086 released in 2014. Linear regression analysis revealed a linear reduction in height and peduncle length over the breeding periods with a linear increase in biomass over the years at the rate of 43.9 kg ha-1 yr-1 or relatively at 0.368% yr-1 mainly because of linear increase in days to heading and crop duration. However, it showed no trend for tiller number and thousand kernel weight but an increase of 0.11 grains per spike yr-1 was evident from the study. The absolute and relative gain yr-1 for harvest index (HI) was found to be 0.0007% and 0.198%, however, polynomial regression shows hardly any improvement in HI since 1982. Interestingly, genetic gain evaluation under early sown conservation agriculture conditions for four years shows similar relative gain (0.544%) but higher absolute gain (29.28 ha-1 yr-1). Major mega varieties like Kalyan Sona, HD2009, PBW 343, HD2967 and HD3086, which occupied comparatively larger area proved to be highly plastic and able to respond well to the improvements in the production environment under timely sown conditions.