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Animal Sciences Commons™

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

2010

Clemson University

Articles 1 - 7 of 7

Full-Text Articles in Animal Sciences

Identification And Characterization Of Micrornas In Porcine Gametes And Pre-Implantation Embryos, Erin Curry Dec 2010

Identification And Characterization Of Micrornas In Porcine Gametes And Pre-Implantation Embryos, Erin Curry

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MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short ribonucleic acids that ultimately affect the production of proteins. Although miRNAs are involved in nearly every biological process examined to date, little is known of the identity or function of miRNA in porcine reproductive tissues or their potential involvement in reproductive processes in pigs or other species. The objective of this dissertation research was to determine the presence of miRNAs in porcine gametes and both in vivo- and in vitro- produced pre-implantation embryos and to identify differences in miRNA expression between normal and aberrant samples. Using a heterologous RT-PCR approach, we demonstrated the presence of a …

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Effects Of An Enriched And Barren Environment On Behavioral And Physiological Responses Related To Laying Hen Welfare, Caroline Davis Aug 2010

Effects Of An Enriched And Barren Environment On Behavioral And Physiological Responses Related To Laying Hen Welfare, Caroline Davis

All Theses

This study was conducted to determine the effects of housing environment on behavioral and physiological responses related to laying hen welfare. General observations and two behavioral fear assessments (emergence test [EM] and tonic immobility test [TI]) were used as behavioral assessments. A heterophil/lymphocyte ratio was used as a physiological stress indicator. Nine hundred day-old Leghorn chicks were randomly assigned to either a floor pen environment or a commercial cage housing environment. The cage chicks were housed in 20 commercial battery brooder cages (25 per cage) up until four weeks of age and then moved to 39 battery grower cages (10 …

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Evaluation Of Health And Diabetes Knowledge Of Cu4health Participants By Food Frequency Questionnaire And Michigan Diabetes Knowledge Test, Peter Mukwevho Aug 2010

Evaluation Of Health And Diabetes Knowledge Of Cu4health Participants By Food Frequency Questionnaire And Michigan Diabetes Knowledge Test, Peter Mukwevho

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Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) has been steadily rising in the United States. The condition is characterized by elevated blood glucose levels and is preceded by insulin resistance. Before the onset of T2D patients go through a state of pre-diabetes. To be tested for pre-diabetes and diabetes, either a Fasting Plasma Glucose test or an Oral Glucose Tolerance Test may be used. While an estimated 24 million Americans have T2D, another 57 million Americans are estimated to be in a state of pre-diabetes. There are many risk factors that may contribute to the development of T2D including obesity, a high calorie …

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Intra- And Interpopulation Variation In Morphology And Behaviors In The Sailfin Molly, Poecilia Latipinna (Poeciliidae: Poecilia: Mollienesia), Jennifer Seda Aug 2010

Intra- And Interpopulation Variation In Morphology And Behaviors In The Sailfin Molly, Poecilia Latipinna (Poeciliidae: Poecilia: Mollienesia), Jennifer Seda

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Understanding factors that contribute to population differences can provide insight into the process of speciation, yet population level studies seldom take into account variation among individuals within a population. Such intrapopulation variation may influence the degree to which interpopulation variation in suites of traits can arise. My research focused on characterizing intra- and interpopulation variation in male morphological and behavioral traits in the sailfin molly, Poecilia latipinna. First, I characterized the overall body shape of several populations of P. latipinna collected from north Florida in two different years. I used linear morphological measurements to examine shape and found there to …

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The Effects Of Aerobic Exercise On Embryonic And Fetal Development In The Pregnant Mare, Jason Anton May 2010

The Effects Of Aerobic Exercise On Embryonic And Fetal Development In The Pregnant Mare, Jason Anton

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Horses are natural athletes and are commonly competed during early pregnancy. Because horses have singleton pregnancies and are conditioned to human interaction, they may prove to be a useful model in lending greater understanding of the numerous etiologies of intra-uterine growth restriction that is found in women and other mammals. Currently, there has been little research conducted to determine the effects that stress, in the form of aerobic exercise, has on early embryonic and fetal development in the horse. More research is needed to further understand the effects that stress has on early conceptus development in the mare.
The research …

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Sex Ratio Of Embryos From Hyperstimluated Beef Cows, Sterling Davis May 2010

Sex Ratio Of Embryos From Hyperstimluated Beef Cows, Sterling Davis

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Sex selection is economically and genetically advantageous in cattle production. The only commercially available reliable sex selection technique is sexed semen; however, the technology is expensive and inefficient. Maternal manipulation could be beneficial to sway sex ratio. Frequent ultrasound coupled with rectal palpation has been shown to sway sex ratio towards female. In the preliminary study, cows with a corpus luteum (CL) ≥ 18 mm were randomly assigned to Treatment or Control (n=4 / group). Follicles > 5 mm were destroyed using ultrasound-guided ablation, a CIDR was inserted, and PGF2α (25 mg IM) was administered. Ovarian hyperstimulation began 48 h post-ablation …

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Forced Exercise Influences Embryo Quality And Blood Perfusion Of The Dominant Follicle In Mares, Rachael Smith May 2010

Forced Exercise Influences Embryo Quality And Blood Perfusion Of The Dominant Follicle In Mares, Rachael Smith

All Theses

Athletic mares are commonly utilized in an embryo transfer regimen during the breeding season, which allows owners to continue to train and compete with these animals. Evidence suggests exercising mares in a hot and humid environment detrimental to embryo recovery rates. However, the effects of exercise under milder temperatures and its influence on mare reproduction have not been thoroughly examined. Our goal was to compare embryo recovery rates and embryo quality scores of mares under mild environmental conditions of two differing exercise regimens versus a single Control group. Color Doppler ultrasonography was used to capture images of the blood flow …

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