Detection and diversity of a putative novel heterogeneous polymorphic proline-glycine repeat (Pgr) protein in the footrot pathogen Dichelobacter nodosus

Dichelobacter nodosus, a Gram-negative anaerobic bacterium, is the essential causative agent of footrot in sheep. Currently, depending on the clinical presentation in the field, footrot is described as benign or virulent; D. nodosus strains have also been classified as benign or virulent, but this designation is not always consistent with clinical disease. The aim of this study was to determine the diversity of the pgr gene, which encodes a putative proline-glycine repeat protein (Pgr). The pgr gene was present in all 100 isolates of D. nodosus that were examined and, based on sequence analysis had two variants, pgrA and pgrB. In pgrA, there were two coding tandem repeat regions, R1 and R2: different strains had variable numbers of repeats within these regions. The R1 and R2 were absent from pgrB. Both variants were present in strains from Australia, Sweden and the UK, however, only pgrB was detected in isolates from Western Australia. The pgrA gene was detected in D. nodosus from tissue samples from two flocks in the UK with virulent footrot and only pgrB from a flock with no virulent or benign footrot for >10 years. Bioinformatic analysis of the putative PgrA protein indicated that it contained a collagen-like cell surface anchor motif. These results suggest that the pgr gene may be a useful molecular marker for epidemiological studies

Sweep-synchronized positionable trigger and supplementary components

This report describes the Sweep-Synchronized Positionable Trigger, together with its functions and supplementary components, as designed and built for use with the Precision Graphic Recorder (PGR) at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. The positionable trigger provides a means for plotting a variable on the PGR record as a function of time, for triggering equipment such as oscilloscopes at any time, for displaying ship's heading, and for supplying, semi-automatically, ocean depth to a ship- board computer.The Office of Naval Research under Contract Nonr- 40 29(00

Pemberian Zat Pengatur Tumbuh (Zpt) Alami Pada Bibit Kelapa Sawit (Elaeis Guineensis Jacq) Di Main-nursery

The research aims to study the provision of plant growth regulator (PGR) from banana weevil and shoots on the growth of oil palm seeds (Elaeis guineensis Jacq) in the main-nursery. The experiment was conducted in a greenhouse of Faculty of Agriculture, University of Riau in October 2013 to January 2014. Testing in the form an experiment using Completely Randomize Design (CRD) that consists of 3 treatment (without PGR, PGR of the bananas weevil: 75 ml and PGR of the bamboo sprout : 75 ml), every treatment repeated 4 times. Parameter that observed are high quality seeds, the number of leaves and the diameter weevil. Results of the study showed that the original PGR of bamboo sprout and bananas weevil influential was real increase seeds, the number of foot and mouth diameter weevil that without PGR. The original PGR of bamboo sprout increase each parameter higher than PGR of the bananas weevil

Nuclear Progestin Receptor (Pgr) Knockouts in Zebrafish Demonstrate Role for Pgr in Ovulation but Not in Rapid Non-Genomic Steroid Mediated Meiosis Resumption

Progestins, progesterone derivatives, are the most critical signaling steroid for initiating final oocyte maturation (FOM) and ovulation, in order to advance fully-grown immature oocytes to become fertilizable eggs in basal vertebrates. It is well-established that progestin induces FOM at least partly through a membrane receptor and a non-genomic steroid signaling process, which precedes progestin triggered ovulation that is mediated through a nuclear progestin receptor (Pgr) and genomic signaling pathway. To determine whether Pgr plays a role in a non-genomic signaling mechanism during FOM, we knocked out Pgr in zebrafish using transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs) and studied the oocyte maturation phenotypes of Pgr knockouts (Pgr-KOs). Three TALENs-induced mutant lines with different frame shift mutations were generated. Homozygous Pgr-KO female fish were all infertile while no fertility effects were evident in homozygous Pgr-KO males. Oocytes developed and underwent FOM normally in vivo in homozygous Pgr-KO female compared to the wild-type controls, but these mature oocytes were trapped within the follicular cells and failed to ovulate from the ovaries. These oocytes also underwent normal germinal vesicle breakdown (GVBD) and FOM in vitro, but failed to ovulate even after treatment with human chronic gonadotropin (HCG) or progestin (17α,20β-dihydroxyprogesterone or DHP), which typically induce FOM and ovulation in wild-type oocytes. The results indicate that anovulation and infertility in homozygous Pgr-KO female fish was, at least in part, due to a lack of functional Pgr-mediated genomic progestin signaling in the follicular cells adjacent to the oocytes. Our study of Pgr-KO supports previous results that demonstrate a role for Pgr in steroid-dependent genomic signaling pathways leading to ovulation, and the first convincing evidence that Pgr is not essential for initiating non-genomic progestin signaling and triggering of meiosis resumption

Association among pasture-level variables and grazing dairy cow responses to supplementary feeds : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Animal Science at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand

The milk production response to additional feed (i.e., supplement) is dependent on the relative feed deficit (RFD) of the cow. We hypothesized that the relative feed deficit could be defined by post-grazing residual (PGR), with a greater PGR indicating less of a relative feed deficit. We undertook a computerized literature review, utilising key words associated with grazing systems and supplementary feed. Approximately 70 published manuscripts were reviewed. Only those that satisfied predetermined inclusion criteria were retained. A meta-analysis was undertaken across all the studies using random coefficient regression fitted as a mixed-model. In total, we collated data from 26 experiments and 90 treatments, wherein pasture-level variables, supplementary feed variables, and milk production were reported. Due to a lack of reporting of standard errors, two analyses were undertaken; one where responses were weighted against the reciprocal of the standard error of the mean, and one where they were not. On average, pasture DM intake declined (-0.28 kg/kg supplement DM; P = 0.001) and milk, fat, and protein increased (P < 0.001) 0.65 kg, 20g, and 30g/kg supplement DM, respectively. For every kg DM supplement consumed, PGR height and mass increased by 1.4 mm and 42 kg DM/ha. These results were similar in the non-weighted analysis. Associated with every 10 mm increase in PGR height in the control treatment, marginal milk response declined (P < 0.05) by 55 ± 21.6 g. The association between PGR height and pasture DMI at zero supplementary feed intake (i.e., unsupplemented group in experiment) on the PGR and pasture DMI responses to supplementary feed, were however, inconsistent in the weighted and non-weighted analysis. These results will enable farmers to use the change in PGR when feeding supplements, to estimate likely marginal milk production response to supplementary feeds. These results are associations only and need to be tested in controlled, interventionist, experiments. Due the number of variables affecting MR, we cannot conclude that anything is causative

Multi-Agent Distributed Optimization via Inexact Consensus ADMM

Multi-agent distributed consensus optimization problems arise in many signal processing applications. Recently, the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) has been used for solving this family of problems. ADMM based distributed optimization method is shown to have faster convergence rate compared with classic methods based on consensus subgradient, but can be computationally expensive, especially for problems with complicated structures or large dimensions. In this paper, we propose low-complexity algorithms that can reduce the overall computational cost of consensus ADMM by an order of magnitude for certain large-scale problems. Central to the proposed algorithms is the use of an inexact step for each ADMM update, which enables the agents to perform cheap computation at each iteration. Our convergence analyses show that the proposed methods converge well under some convexity assumptions. Numerical results show that the proposed algorithms offer considerably lower computational complexity than the standard ADMM based distributed optimization methods.Comment: submitted to IEEE Trans. Signal Processing; Revised April 2014 and August 201

Characterization of progesterone receptor (PGR) mRNA and protein isoforms in the endometrium of cyclic and pregnant pigs

Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on August 23, 2010).The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file.Dissertation advisor: Dr. Matthew C. Lucy.Vita.Ph. D. University of Missouri--Columbia 2010.Disappearance of the progesterone receptor (PGR) from the uterine luminal epithelium (LE) is essential for cyclicity and pregnancy in pigs. In humans, three PGR mRNA isoforms (PGR-A, PGR-B and PGR-C) arise from alternative transcription start sites, encoding three protein isoforms which confer distinct biological functions. The objective was to identify and characterize PGR mRNA and protein isoforms in porcine endometrium during the estrous cycle and pregnancy. Porcine PGR gene was sequenced and homology to human PGR assessed (84%). Three transcription initiation sites were identified in endometrium: PGR-B, PGR-A and PGR-C. The presence of PGR-B and PGR-A mRNA was detected in total RNA milieu. Abundance of PGR isoform mRNA was assayed in endometrial tissue from cyclic (days 0, 5, 7.5, 10, 12, 13, 15, 17) and pregnant (days 10, 12, 13, 15, 17) pigs. Isoform PGR-B mRNA had a tendency to be greater on d 0 and d 5 and decreased on d 7.5 and d 15 (P < 0.10). Combined PGR-AB mRNA was constitutively, lowly abundant from d 0 to d 13 and increased on d 15 in cyclic and pregnant porcine endometrium (P < 0.001). The presence of two protein isoforms, PGR-B and PGR-A were detected in total endometrial cellular protein. The PGR-B isoform was more abundant in endometrium on d 0 than on d 8 and d 12 (P < 0.05), while PGR-A did not differ significantly with day of the estrous cycle. Presence of PGR-B protein was detected in the nucleus of the LE and glandular epithelium (GE). The PGR-A protein was detected in the cytoplasm of the LE and GE on d 8 and localized to the apical side of LE on d12.Includes bibliographical reference