I in the chain sow diet → blood serum of sow → sow milk → piglet serum was investigated in two experiments with a total of eighty-one sows and their piglets. In experiments conducted during the last trimester of gravidity and the 28 d of lactation, diets with glucosinolates (1.9 mmol/kg diet via 100 g ground rapeseed/kg diet (Expt 1) and 2.1 and 4.2 mmol/kg diet via 75 and 150 g rapeseed press cake/kg diet (Expt 2)) were compared with control groups without rapeseed products. From 0 to 600 μg I/kg was added to sow diets during lactation. Diets without supplementary I decreased the I concentration particularly in milk and piglet serum. The presence of rapeseed and rapeseed press cake were indicated by a thiocyanate concentration increase, mainly in sow serum. The diets with glucosinolates decreased the milk and piglet serum I concentration. Spot urine and faeces samples from sows eating the rapeseed-press cake diets had increased I concentration. The sows’ serum I and thyroxine did not respond to glucosinolates (Expt 1) or these diets caused an increase in concentration (Expt 2). Both these criteria seem unsuitable for the diagnosis of I status of adult animals. Glucosinolates and their degradation compounds may affect the thyroid and the mammary glands resulting in lower I milk transfer and higher renal and intestinal I excretion.

We have empirically tested and evaluated several astronomically related hypotheses about the ruins of Alta Vista near the modern town of Chalchihuites, Zacatecas, in Northwest Mexico. We conclude that the site was deliberately located and oriented astronomically by people of the Teotihuacan civilization.

As supporting evidence we analyze (a) a double solar alignment incorporating a labyrinthine hallway at the ruins, and (b) a pair of circle-shaped markers, of a type found at Teotihuacan, pecked into a flat stone on a hilltop to the south. The former can be correlated with an equinoctial sunrise observation and the latter with a summer solstice sunrise, each over the same distant peak. Furthermore, a detailed examination of the pecked petroglyphs reveals that they may have served as time-marking devices.