Survey of dairy housing and manure management practices in California.

In 2007, a descriptive survey was mailed to all dairies in Glenn (G) and Tulare (T) Counties to identify current and future opportunities of manure management practices on California dairies. The purpose was to provide baseline information for development of outreach curriculum and a decision support tool to quantify potential benefits of various N management options on dairy farms. Such baseline information is valuable to staff regulating dairy facilities (e.g., San Joaquin Valley Unified Air Pollution Control District and Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board), dairy trade association representatives, and technology vendors. Response rates for each county were similar at 29.7% (n=19; G) and 26.7% (n=88; T). Mean milking herd size averaged 570 (range 50 to 3,000) cows in G and 1,800 (range 196 to 9,286) cows in T. Survey data are reported by location due to differences between counties in herd size, housing facilities, and climate. Freestalls are common housing facilities (63.2%, G; 38.6%, T) and separated solids and corral scrapings are commonly used as bedding in freestalls (81.8% G and 79.4% T). The most common methods of manure collection were flushing and scraping (18.8%, G; 44.7%, T), only flushing (43.8%, G; 34.1%, T), or only scraping daily or less frequently than daily (37.5%, G; 20.0%, T). Most dairy farms in G (63.2%) and T (70.5%) used some method of separating solids from liquids. However, mechanical separation systems alone were used by 5.3% G and 11.4% T of dairy farms. Storage or treatment ponds were found on 95.9% of dairies. Respondents identified existing manure management practices and did not indicate any new technologies were in use or being considered for manure management. Survey results were used to describe the 2 predominant manure management pathways of manure collection, storage, treatment, and utilization. Survey results will be used to develop and disseminate targeted information on manure treatment technologies, and on-farm evaluation of implemented technologies related to anaerobic digesters, solid liquid separation, and pond additives.

Nutrition during mid to late gestation affects growth, adipose tissue deposition, and tenderness in cross-bred beef steers.

The objective of this study was to examine whether the plane of nutrition of cows at a critical time for fetal skeletal muscle and adipose tissue development would affect meat quality and carcass composition of offspring. To alter maternal nutrition, beef cows were placed on improved pasture (IP) or native range (NR) pasture from 120 to 150 through 180 to 210days of gestation. Esophageal extrusa samples collected from cows grazing IP varied from 11.1% crude protein of organic matter early in the test period to 6.0% crude protein of organic matter at the end of the grazing period; whereas, extrusa samples of cows grazing NR ranged from 6.5% crude protein of organic matter during early grazing to 5.4% crude protein of organic matter at the end of the grazing period. Steers were slaughtered and carcass characteristics were collected. Warner-Bratzler shear force was performed on longissumus steaks, western blotting was used to measure proteolysis, and myosin isoform typing was performed. Improved pasture steers had heavier live and hot carcass weights. Tenderness was greater in IP compared to NR steers. No difference in calpastatin content and troponin-T degradation was observed between treatments. The 12th rib fat thickness was greater for IP than for NR steers. Subcutaneous adipose tissue of IP steers tended to have a greater number of cells per field of view than NR steers. Data show improving nutritional status of cows during mid to late gestation affects tenderness, adipose tissue deposition and growth in steers.

The oral iron chelator, 1,2-dimethyl-3-hydroxypyrid-4-one reduces hepatic-free iron, lipid peroxidation and fat accumulation in chronically ethanol-fed rats.

The effect of the oral iron chelator 1,2-dimethyl-3-hydroxypyrid-4-one (L1) on liver nonheme iron, lipid peroxidation and hepatic fat accumulation in the intragastric feeding rat model for alcoholic liver disease was studied. Male Wistar rats (225-250 g) were fed liquid diet and ethanol for 1 month. In control pair-fed animals, ethanol was replaced isocalorically by dextrose. Two additional groups of animals (dextrose and ethanol-fed) received L1 (75 mg/kg/day for 30 days). The blood ethanol level in the ethanol-fed animals was maintained between 150 and 350 mg/dl. For each animal, the levels of hepatic nonheme iron, lipid peroxidation and triglyceride were evaluated. The nonheme iron in alcohol-fed animals was significantly higher (416 +/- 15 nmol/g of liver) than in pair-fed dextrose controls (346 +/- 18.5 nmol/g, P < .05). Animals fed ethanol and L1 had significantly lower nonheme iron (364 +/- 9.3 nmol/g) than rats fed ethanol alone (P < .05). L1 had no effect on nonheme iron levels in dextrose-fed controls. The importance of iron in lipid peroxidation in this model is shown by the positive correlation between the nonheme iron levels and microsomal conjugated dienes (r = 0.67, P < .02) and liver thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (r = 0.62, P < .05). The most significant observations in this study were: 1) the higher hepatic nonheme iron content in ethanol-fed rats compared to pair-fed dextrose controls; 2) lower nonheme iron and liver fat in the ethanol-fed rats treated with L1; and 3) the significant positive correlation between the liver nonheme and lipid peroxidation.

Cell-cell contact mediates cAMP secretion in Dictyostelium discoideum.

Cyclic adenosine 3':5' monophosphate (cAMP) and cell-cell contact regulate developmental gene expression in Dictyostelium discoideum. Developing D. discoideum amoebae synthesize and secrete cAMP following the binding of cAMP to their surface cAMP receptor, a response called cAMP signaling. We have demonstrated two responses of developing D. discoideum amoebae to cell-cell contact. Cell-cell contact elicits cAMP secretion and alters the amount of cAMP secreted in a subsequent cAMP signaling response. Depending upon experimental conditions, bacterial-amoebal contact and amoebal-amoebal contact can enhance or diminish the amount of cAMP secreted during a subsequent cAMP signaling response. We have hypothesized that cell-cell contact regulates D. discoideum development by altering cellular and extracellular levels of cAMP. To begin testing this hypothesis, these responses were further characterized. The two responses to cell-cell contact are independent, i.e., they can each occur in the absence of the other. The responses to cell-cell contact also have unique temperature dependences when compared to each other, cAMP signaling, and phagocytosis. This suggests that these four responses have unique steps in their transduction mechanisms. The secretion of cAMP in response to cell-cell contact appears to be a non-specific response; contact between D. discoideum amoebae and Enterobacter aerogenes, latex beads, or other amoebae elicits cAMP secretion. Despite the apparent similarities of the effects of bacterial-amoebal and amoebal-amoebal contact on the cAMP signaling response, this contact-induced response appears to be specific. Latex beads addition does not alter the magnitude of a subsequent cAMP signaling response.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Contact alters cAMP metabolism in aggregation-competent Dictyostelium amoebae.

cAMP and cell-cell contact are involved in the coordination of differentiation and morphogenesis in Dictyostelium discoideum. The experiments described in this paper establish a relationship between cAMP and cell-cell contact. Contact between Enterobacter aerogenes and aggregation-competent Dictyostelium amoebae and contact between Dictyostelium amoebae themselves results in the transient secretion of cAMP and an alteration in the amount of cAMP secreted in response to subsequent stimulation by cAMP, i.e., an alteration in magnitude of a cAMP relay response. The subsequent cAMP relay response can be enhanced or diminished depending upon the number of contacts formed and the concentration of cAMP present at the time of contact. Latex beads are capable of evoking cAMP secretion. However, the bead/amoebal contact is unable to alter the magnitude of a subsequent response to cAMP. This suggests that a nonspecific interaction via cell-cell contact elicits transient cAMP secretion in aggregation-competent Dictyostelium amoebae. The two responses to cell-cell contact are distinct from each other and distinct from the cAMP relay response. 1) The dose-response curves for the responses to Enterobacter contact are clearly different. 2) Contact with latex beads can elicit cAMP secretion but not alter the magnitude of a subsequent cAMP relay response. 3) The temperature dependences of the contact-induced responses and the cAMP relay response show that only the contact-induced cAMP secretion is inhibited at 12 and 15 degrees C, while only the cAMP relay response is inhibited at 28 degrees C. A 4-second application of cAMP at the time that contact is initiated enhances both contact-induced responses. Whether the relationship between these two developmental regulators is important for the regulation of Dictyostelium development has yet to be established.

Diagnosis of clinical depression on four source trait dimensions -U.I. 19, U.I. 20, U.I. 25, and U.I. 30--from the O.A. Kit.

Describe four personality factors with preliminary indications of distinguishing depressed patients from normals, namely those indexed in the O-A Kit as U.I. 19, U.I. 20, U.I. 25 and U.I. 30. Thirty-one clinically depressed Ss--22 inpatients and 9 outpatients--were administered the O-A (Objective-Analytic) battery for these four and the scores compared with those of 30 demographically matched controls. From earlier research and the general psychological theory that concerned these source traits it was hypothesized that depressed Ss would deviate negatively on U.I. 19 and U.I. 25 and positively on U.I. 20 and U.I. 30. A comparison of means that used a one-tailed t-test showed significant differences on two of the factors, U.I. 19 and U.I. 20, at p less than level of significance, and on U.I. 25 and U.I. 30 at p less than .05 significance level. Thus, the clinical sample showed the hypothesized directions of divergence from the control sample on all four of the factors. Later use of a discriminant function on this pattern of deviations shows a high degree of patient-control separation (Price, Cattell, & Patrick, Note 1).