Effect of Feed Intake on Plasma Ghrelin Concentration in Beef Cattle

Two experiments were conducted to determine if ghrelin mRNA existed in ruminant digestive tract tissues and to establish the fluctuation in plasma ghrelin concentrations for fed and fasting steers. Tissues collected from the ruminant digestive tract indicate detectable ghrelin mRNA in the upper, middle, and lower portion of the abomasum and in the small intestine but no detectable ghrelin mRNA in the reticulum, omasum, and rumen. Plasma ghrelin concentrations are elevated by a fasting period that is as short as 22 h. Additionally, plasma ghrelin remain elevated throughout a 48-h fasting period. The magnitude of difference in plasma ghrelin concentration between the fed and fasting states warrants further investigation as to the impact that this fluctuation in hormone concentration has on feed intake, composition of gain, and energy expenditure in cattle

Effect of Feed Intake on Plasma Ghrelin Concentration in Beef Cattle

Two experiments were conducted to determine if ghrelin mRNA existed in ruminant digestive tract tissues and to establish the fluctuation in plasma ghrelin concentrations for fed and fasting steers. Tissues collected from the ruminant digestive tract indicate detectable ghrelin mRNA in the upper, middle, and lower portion of the abomasum and in the small intestine but no detectable ghrelin mRNA in the reticulum, omasum, and rumen. Plasma ghrelin concentrations are elevated by a fasting period that is as short as 22 h. Additionally, plasma ghrelin remain elevated throughout a 48-h fasting period. The magnitude of difference in plasma ghrelin concentration between the fed and fasting states warrants further investigation as to the impact that this fluctuation in hormone concentration has on feed intake, composition of gain, and energy expenditure in cattle.</p

Genome-wide association and prediction of direct genomic breeding values for composition of fatty acids in Angus beef cattlea

BACKGROUND: As consumers continue to request food products that have health advantages, it will be important for the livestock industry to supply a product that meet these demands. One such nutrient is fatty acids, which have been implicated as playing a role in cardiovascular disease. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine the extent to which molecular markers could account for variation in fatty acid composition of skeletal muscle and identify genomic regions that harbor genetic variation. RESULTS: Subsets of markers on the Illumina 54K bovine SNPchip were able to account for up to 57% of the variance observed in fatty acid composition. In addition, these markers could be used to calculate a direct genomic breeding values (DGV) for a given fatty acids with an accuracy (measured as simple correlations between DGV and phenotype) ranging from -0.06 to 0.57. Furthermore, 57 1-Mb regions were identified that were associated with at least one fatty acid with a posterior probability of inclusion greater than 0.90. 1-Mb regions on BTA19, BTA26 and BTA29, which harbored fatty acid synthase, Sterol-CoA desaturase and thyroid hormone responsive candidate genes, respectively, explained a high percentage of genetic variance in more than one fatty acid. It was also observed that the correlation between DGV for different fatty acids at a given 1-Mb window ranged from almost 1 to -1. CONCLUSIONS: Further investigations are needed to identify the causal variants harbored within the identified 1-Mb windows. For the first time, Angus breeders have a tool whereby they could select for altered fatty acid composition. Furthermore, these reported results could improve our understanding of the biology of fatty acid metabolism and deposition

Egalitarianism and the Great Recession: A Tale of Missed Connections?

The main aim of this paper is to act as a corrective to the comparatively deafening silence of egalitarian political philosophy’s response to the Great Recession. The paper thus provides an accessible analysis of a new strand of empirical research into the causes of the crisis. This new literature, which has largely gone unnoticed by the broader philosophical community, maintains that the main driver of financial instability is income and wealth inequality coupled with income stagnation at the bottom of the income distribution. Building on this empirical research, the paper puts forward six connections between egalitarian political philosophy broadly construed, and the findings of the new literature it surveys. These connections are understood as operating in two directions: that is, they both provide reasons for egalitarians to play a larger role in debates concerning the moral aspects of financial instability, and also offer valuable insights to egalitarians to reorient their position concerning central facets of their arguments