Gene expression profiling of peripheral mononuclear cells in lame dairy cows with foot lesions     

Almeida PE  Weber PS  Burton JL  Tempelman RJ  Steibel JP  Zanella AJ 《Veterinary immunology and immunopathology》2007,120(3-4):234-245

Lameness is a major health issue and likely the single most common cause of pain and discomfort in dairy cattle. Appropriate treatment is delayed or neglected due, in part, to lack of reliable detection. Assessment of cows with lameness is currently limited to subjective visual scoring systems based on locomotion and posture abnormalities. These systems are unreliable to detect lameness, and therefore, a large number of cows remain undiagnosed. The objective of this research was to search for potential biomarkers for lameness-associated painful inflammatory foot lesions in dairy cattle using microarray-based gene expression profiling of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). BOTL5 microarrays spotted in duplicate with cDNA representing bovine immune response genes were interrogated with cDNA samples in an eight-array, balanced complete block design with dye swap. Samples from eight lame cows with inflammatory foot lesions and from eight sound cows were pair-matched by age, weight, days in lactation, and pregnancy status at time of PBMC collection and directly compared with each other on individual arrays. Statistical analysis of resulting fluorescence intensity data revealed 31 genes that were putatively differentially expressed in lame versus sound cows (P < 0.05). Of these, BLASTn analysis and gene ontology information showed that 28 genes had high similarity or homology to known human and/or rodent genes. Validation of 15 of these genes known to be important in inflammation and pain was carried out using relative quantitative real-time RT-PCR, which confirmed the up-regulation of interleukin (IL)-2 (12.68 ± 1.47-fold increase) and IL-10 (2.39 ± 0.55-fold increase), matrix metalloproteinase-13 (MMP-13) (10.44 ± 1.14-fold increase), and chemokine C–C motif receptor-5 (CCR5) (5.26 ± 1.05-fold increase), in lame relative to sound cows (P ≤ 0.05). Similarly, granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor receptor alpha chain precursor (GM-CSF-R-alpha) (2.30 ± 0.63-fold increase) and IL-4 (2.06 ± 0.59-fold increase) showed a tendency (P = 0.10) for up-regulation in lame compared to sound cows. PBMC co-expression of IL-2, MMP-13, CCR5 and IL-10, and potentially IL-4 and GM-CSF-R-alpha appears to be a promising, objective sign of lameness-related inflammatory foot lesions in dairy cattle. In conclusion, this study revealed potential biomarkers of the presence of foot lesions that could boost diagnostic accuracy of lameness and, ultimately, help identify animals in need of pain relief.  相似文献   

Assessing the effect of interventions on the risk of cattle and sheep carrying Escherichia coli O157:H7 to the abattoir using a stochastic model     

Stacey KF  Parsons DJ  Christiansen KH  Burton CH 《Preventive veterinary medicine》2007,79(1):32-45

Escherichia coli O157:H7 persists in being a threat to food safety. The mechanisms behind the spread of E. coli O157:H7 on the farm are complex and poorly understood. The objective of this study was to apply a Monte Carlo model, constructed to simulate the propagation of E. coli O157:H7 in cattle and sheep on the farm, to both test the effect of different interventions on the risk of animals carrying E. coli O157:H7 to the abattoir and to develop understanding of the underlying processes, including the identification of areas that could benefit from further research. An overview of the model including key assumptions is given. The output statistics from batches of 100 runs of the model were collected. From the model output, a cumulative frequency distribution of the prevalence and specific shedding level for the groups of cattle or sheep being sent to the abattoir were generated. Stochastic dominance was used to compare the results of the model outputs. Using the shorthand that "risk" means the likelihood of carrying E. coli O157:H7 to the abattoir, key conclusions from the study included: mixing sheep and cattle increases the risk in both groups; merging groups of animals of the same species into larger groups increases the risk substantially; increasing stocking density increases the risk independently of group size; decreasing the group size decreases the E. coli O157:H7 prevalence independently of stocking density; a very high level of barn hygiene reduces the risk; a shorter time between spreading farmyard manure and grazing and an increased background level of E. coli O157:H7 in the model increases the risk. The background level could be influenced by the presence of wild animals carrying the organism. The parameters to which the model is most sensitive are those related to transmission from grass and enclosures to animals, pathogen survival on grass, in slurry and in barns and contact between animals.  相似文献   

Equine bone marrow volume reduction,red blood cell depletion,and mononuclear cell recovery using the PrepaCyte‐CB processing system          下载免费PDF全文

Andrew G. Burton  Kaitlin C. Clark  Dori L. Borjesson  Danielle D. Carrade  Julie Burges  Sean D. Owens 《Veterinary clinical pathology / American Society for Veterinary Clinical Pathology》2015,44(2):188-193

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Estimating the demand and willingness-to-pay for cotton yield monitors     

Michele C. Marra  Roderick M. Rejesus  Roland K. Roberts  Burton C. English  James A. Larson  Sherry L. Larkin  Steve Martin 《Precision Agriculture》2010,11(3):215-238

Survey data from cotton farmers in six southeastern states of the USA were used to estimate the demand and willingness-to-pay (WTP) for either retrofitting yield monitors onto cotton pickers or to purchase a yield monitor as an option with a new cotton picker. ‘Don’t know’ responses were either omitted, combined with ‘no’ responses or included as a separate category for comparing WTP and estimates of the price elasticity of demand. Our results suggest that treating the ‘don’t know’ response as a separate category provides WTP estimates that are more consistent with expectations than the other approaches. The estimated price elasticities and demand curves indicate that previous users of precision technology are more responsive to changes in price of cotton yield monitors and would be more likely to adopt them when the price decreases. These demand and WTP estimates provide important information that can be used by those who sell cotton yield monitors, as well as policy-makers who may wish to subsidize this technology. Referendum contingent valuation was useful for evaluating the demand for any new technology.  相似文献   

Grid soil sampling adoption and abandonment in cotton production     

Jonathan C. Walton  Roland K. Roberts  Dayton M. Lambert  James A. Larson  Burton C. English  Sherry L. Larkin  Steven W. Martin  Michele C. Marra  Kenneth W. Paxton  Jeanne M. Reeves 《Precision Agriculture》2010,11(2):135-147

Technology adoption in precision agriculture has received considerable attention, while abandonment has received little. Survey data are now available to evaluate adoption and abandonment decisions. Understanding the factors motivating technology adoption and abandonment has implications for educational efforts directed toward improving the efficiency of production inputs and for research and development to improve the value of precision agriculture technologies. The objective of this research was to identify factors motivating the adoption and abandonment of grid soil sampling in precision cotton production. These decisions were evaluated assuming a random utility model. Data were obtained from a 2005 survey of cotton producers in 11 Southeastern states in the USA. Results from limited dependent variable regressions indicate that younger producers who farmed more cotton area, owned more of their cropland, planted larger amounts of non-cotton area, used a computer for farm management and used a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) in the field were more likely to adopt grid soil sampling for cotton precision farming. Results also suggest that producers with more cotton area who owned livestock and adopted management zone soil sampling were more likely to abandon grid soil sampling, while those who used a PDA in the field, used grid soil sampling for more years and followed up grid soil sampling with variable-rate fertilizer application were less likely to abandon grid soil sampling for cotton production.  相似文献   

Effect of Micronutrient Fortification on Nutritional and Other Properties of Nixtamal Tortillas     

K. E. Burton  F. M. Steele  L. Jefferies  O. A. Pike  M. L. Dunn 《Cereal Chemistry》2008,85(1):70-75

Nixtamalization is the process of steeping dried corn in hot water with calcium hydroxide (lime) with subsequent removal of all or most of the pericarp through washing. The resulting product is called nixtamal. Approximately 60% of corn tortillas in Mexico are produced from nixtamal, with the remainder prepared from nixtamalized corn flour. Nixtamal was fortified with micronutrient premix containing iron, zinc, folic acid, niacin, riboflavin, and thiamin. Premix composition followed a proposed Mexican regulation for corn flour fortification, adjusted for moisture. Effects of premix on masa adhesiveness, hardness, and pH, as well as tortilla sensory properties, stretchability, rollability, and color were measured. Micronutrient levels were tested in the dry corn, nixtamal, masa, and tortillas. There were no significant differences in masa texture or pH, tortilla rollability, or consumer acceptance of tortillas when comparing unfortified control and fortified treatments. Added thiamin was almost entirely degraded during processing. Folic acid and riboflavin decreased 26 and 45%, respectively, through the masa‐tortilla manufacturing process. Niacin showed no significant loss. Despite processing losses, fortification resulted in significant nutrient increases compared with control tortillas. Folic acid increased 974%, riboflavin increased 300%, niacin increased 141%, iron increased 156%, and zinc increased 153% in fortified tortillas.  相似文献   

DOPPLER MEASUREMENT OF HEPATIC ARTERIAL FLOW IN DOGS: TECHNIQUE AND PRELIMINARY FINDINGS     

C.R. Lamb  MA  Vet MB  C.A. Burton  BVet Med  C.H. Carlisle  MVSc  DVR FACVS 《Veterinary radiology & ultrasound》1999,40(1):77-81

The common hepatic artery in 10 healthy adult beagles, 20 healthy pups (13 Deerhounds and seven Irish Wolfhounds), and seven dogs with either a congenital or acquired hepatic disorder was examined by duplex-Doppler ultrasonography. Peak systolic velocity (Vs), resistive index (RI), pulse rate, angle of insonation, and sample volume depth were recorded. Measurements in Beagles were made after a 24 h fast and repeated 2 h after feeding. The mean Vs and RI in fasted Beagles were 1.5 m/s (range 1.1-2.3 m/s) and 0.68 (range 0.62-0.74), respectively. Postprandially, there were no significant differences in any of these variables. Mean Vs and RI were lower in pups: 1.0 m/s (range 0.8-1.3 m/s) and 0.59 (range 0.46-0.65), respectively (P < .001). Two dogs with congenital arterioportal fistula had higher mean Vs (P < .001) and lower mean RI (P < .05) than normal pups. No significant differences were detected between normal Beagles, three dogs with portal vein thrombosis, and two dogs with acquired hepatic insufficiency. Differences in measured hepatic blood flow in dogs of different age or breed will complicate diagnostic use of hepatic arterial Doppler measurements.  相似文献   

Effects of phenobarbital treatment on serum thyroxine and thyroid-stimulating hormone concentrations in epileptic dogs.     

C L Gaskill  S A Burton  H C Gelens  S L Ihle  J B Miller  D H Shaw  M B Brimacombe  A E Cribb 《Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association》1999,215(4):489-496

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether phenobarbital treatment of epileptic dogs alters serum thyroxine (T4) and thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) concentrations. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. ANIMALS: 78 epileptic dogs receiving phenobarbital (group 1) and 48 untreated epileptic dogs (group 2). PROCEDURE: Serum biochemical analyses, including T4 and TSH concentrations, were performed for all dogs. Additional in vitro analyses were performed on serum from healthy dogs to determine whether phenobarbital in serum interferes with T4 assays or alters free T4 (fT4) concentrations. RESULTS: Mean serum T4 concentration was significantly lower, and mean serum TSH concentration significantly higher, in dogs in group 1, compared with those in group 2. Thirty-one (40%) dogs in group 1 had serum T4 concentrations less than the reference range, compared with 4 (8%) dogs in group 2. All dogs in group 2 with low serum T4 concentrations had recently had seizure activity. Five (7%) dogs in group 1, but none of the dogs in group 2, had serum TSH concentrations greater than the reference range. Associations were not detected between serum T4 concentration and TSH concentration, age, phenobarbital dosage, duration of treatment, serum phenobarbital concentration, or degree of seizure control. Signs of overt hypothyroidism were not evident in dogs with low T4 concentrations. Addition of phenobarbital in vitro to serum did not affect determination of T4 concentration and only minimally affected fT4 concentration. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Clinicians should be aware of the potential for phenobarbital treatment to decrease serum T4 and increase TSH concentrations and should use caution when interpreting results of thyroid tests in dogs receiving phenobarbital.  相似文献   

Heterosis of juncea canola under terminal drought conditions     

Babu Ram Pandey  Wayne A. Burton  Marc E. Nicolas  Phillip A. Salisbury 《Euphytica》2016,210(3):451-460

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Factors affecting farmer adoption of remotely sensed imagery for precision management in cotton production     

James A. Larson  Roland K. Roberts  Burton C. English  Sherry L. Larkin  Michele C. Marra  Steven W. Martin  Kenneth W. Paxton  Jeanne M. Reeves 《Precision Agriculture》2008,9(4):195-208

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