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Articles 1 - 9 of 9

Full-Text Articles in Animal Sciences

The Role Of Adiponectin And The Adipocyte In Energy Metabolism And Inflammation, Sheila Kay Jacobi Oct 2014

The Role Of Adiponectin And The Adipocyte In Energy Metabolism And Inflammation, Sheila Kay Jacobi

Open Access Dissertations

A series of experiments were conducted to characterize the autocrine role of adiponectin in modulating fatty acid metabolism and inflammation in the pig. In the first study, we cloned and sequenced the porcine adiponectin open reading frame and evaluated the regulation of adiponectin, in vitro and in vivo. The porcine sequence shares approximately 88, 86, 85 and 83% homology with the dog, human, cow and mouse adiponectin, respectively, and 79–83% similarity with dog, human, cow and mouse proteins at the amino acid level, based on the translated porcine sequence and GenBank submissions for the other species. Analysis of serum from …


The Effects Of Heat Stress On Immunity In Laying Hens And Dairy Cattle, Rebecca Ann Strong Oct 2014

The Effects Of Heat Stress On Immunity In Laying Hens And Dairy Cattle, Rebecca Ann Strong

Open Access Theses

With the increase in global climate change and the population growth driving the high demand for additional food production, heat stress (HS) is a major concern in the livestock industry across all species. Animals experience HS when exposed to high environmental temperatures outside their thermal neutral zone. The level of the effects can vary due to the length and intensity of HS to which the animal is exposed to. In experiment one, laying hens with access to cooled perches during HS had a lower heterophil to lymphocyte ratio compared to the control hens after 4 h of acute heat stress, …


Adipogenic And Myogenic Stem Cells In Brown Fat: A Study Of Progenitors And Regenerative Capacity, Xin Yang Oct 2014

Adipogenic And Myogenic Stem Cells In Brown Fat: A Study Of Progenitors And Regenerative Capacity, Xin Yang

Open Access Theses

Brown adipose tissue (BAT) utilizes stored lipids to generate heat, therefore reducing body fat content and favoring a leaner body composition. Recent identification of metabolically active BAT in adult humans has sparked broad interests in understanding the developmental origin and postnatal homeostasis of BAT. However, the stem cell population that gives rise to BAT during development and maintains BAT mass at postnatal stage has not been characterized. In addition, whether adult BAT has the capacity to regenerate after injury or to proliferate in response to cold is flargely unknown. Furthermore, although BAT and skeletal muscle are known to share a …


Prediction Of Parturition And Dystocia In Holstein-Friesian Cattle, And Cesarean Section In Dystocic Beef Cattle, Wen Han Mark Hiew Oct 2014

Prediction Of Parturition And Dystocia In Holstein-Friesian Cattle, And Cesarean Section In Dystocic Beef Cattle, Wen Han Mark Hiew

Open Access Dissertations

Dystocia is a major problem in the dairy industry as it causes livestock and economic loss. It is more frequently seen in primiparous cattle compared to their multiparous counterparts due to their smaller stature and the slow maturation of pelvic dimensions. In some instances, human intervention of the parturition process is imperative to avoid pain, injury, and mortality of the neonate and the dam. The ability to accurately predict dystocia and the time of parturition will ensure that timely assistance can be given to animals that are of high risk of dystocia.^ The present thesis contains four studies that explore …


Cellular And Molecular Regulation Of Skeletal Muscle Regeneration, Chunhui Jiang Oct 2014

Cellular And Molecular Regulation Of Skeletal Muscle Regeneration, Chunhui Jiang

Open Access Dissertations

Skeletal muscle regeneration provides a powerful model to study the cellular and molecular mechanism governing stem cell function since the whole process is mediated by a population of muscle-resident stem cells called satellite cells. The overall aim of this dissertation is to explore the roles of Notch signaling and a novel gene (Bex1) in satellite cell function and skeletal muscle regeneration. ^ The first part of this thesis is to examine how the Notch signaling pathway regulates the satellite cell self-renewal in a disease model. The MDX mouse is a well-established model for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and characterized by …


New Insight Into The Effects Of Small Heat Shock Proteins On Callipyge Lamb Meat Tenderness, Traci Cramer, Yuan H Brad Kim, Danyi Ma, Jolena N. Waddell, Moriah Penick Aug 2014

New Insight Into The Effects Of Small Heat Shock Proteins On Callipyge Lamb Meat Tenderness, Traci Cramer, Yuan H Brad Kim, Danyi Ma, Jolena N. Waddell, Moriah Penick

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Callipyge lambs are a type of sheep that are genetically known to produce tough meat. High expression of calpastatin, which inhibits proteolytic activity of µ-calpain, has been identified as the main factor behind the toughness of callipyge lamb meat. Another group of proteins called small heat shock proteins (sHSP) has recently been suggested for its possible involvement in tenderness development of meat, where up-regulation of sHSP may be associated with toughness. However, the role of sHSP in meat tenderization of callipyge lambs has never been investigated; therefore, the objective of this study is to determine possible involvement of sHSP in …


Habitat Effects On Chick-A-Dee Call Complexity, Jacqueline Renee Lynch Jul 2014

Habitat Effects On Chick-A-Dee Call Complexity, Jacqueline Renee Lynch

Open Access Theses

Past studies on the communication systems of species in urban environments (such as Common Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris), nightingales (Luscinia megarhynchos Brehm), brown-headed cowbirds ( Molothrus ater), Southern brown tree frogs (Litoria ewingii )) have shown multiple ways that species change vocal signaling behavior to adjust to urban habitats (e.g. alarm calls and singing). This study further investigates the changes in signaling in relation to the chick-a-dee call of the Carolina chickadee (Poecile carolinensis). A secondary goal of this study was to compare both the amount of information and rate of calling across …


Impact Of Antimicrobials With Or Without The Addition Of Phytase On Phosphorus Digestibility And Utilization In Swine And Broiler Chickens, Katherine A. Mccormick Apr 2014

Impact Of Antimicrobials With Or Without The Addition Of Phytase On Phosphorus Digestibility And Utilization In Swine And Broiler Chickens, Katherine A. Mccormick

Open Access Theses

Three studies were conducted for this thesis. In study 1, effects of antimicrobials on nutrient digestibility and retention of 18 to 20-kg pigs was investigated. The study used a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with 4 treatments and 6 replicate pigs in individual metabolism crates per treatment. The four treatments consisted of, negative control (NC) devoid of antimicrobials with 0.41% total P and 0.71% Ca, NC with 55 mg/kg carbadox (Mecadox 10, Phibro Animal Health), 44 mg/kg tylosin (Tylan 40, Elanco Animal Health), and 11 mg/kg virginiamycin (Stafac 20, Phibro Animal Health). A 5-d total collection period with chromic oxide …


Evaluation Of Forage Soybean Yield And Quality Characteristics And Potential As A Feed Resource For Developing Replacement Beef Heifers, Emily G. Taylor Apr 2014

Evaluation Of Forage Soybean Yield And Quality Characteristics And Potential As A Feed Resource For Developing Replacement Beef Heifers, Emily G. Taylor

Open Access Theses

Two agronomic studies were conducted to evaluate the yield and quality potentials of forage soybean (Glycine max ( L .)) grown with and without pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum (L .)). Results indicate that there were no differences between row spacings of 18 cm or 36 cm and targeted populations of 469,500 seeds ha-1 or 234,750 seeds ha-1 on dry matter yield or overall quality of the forage soybean. While harvest date had significant effects on quality as the crop matured, forage soybean as a monoculture proved to be a very forgiving crop, and recovered in quality as …