Characterization of livestock herds in extensive agricultural settings in southwest Texas

Because of an ever-increasing threat of foreign animal disease outbreaks in the United States, there is a desire to develop strategies to prevent the occurrence of a foreign animal disease and control an outbreak if it does occur. Infectious disease models have been developed and are being used to determine reasonable mitigation strategies. However, little information is available concerning premises characteristics and movement of animals in extensively managed livestock areas. Hence adaptation of these models to areas where there is low livestock density is not easy. We collected empirical data, via mail out surveys, from an extensively managed livestock area. This will aid in improving the results of infectious disease models in these areas. In contrast to the intensively managed livestock that have previously been modeled, this study has shown that in areas of low livestock density, multiple livestock types often are managed on the same premises. Direct contacts, facilitated through the planned movement of animals, appear to have a greater seasonality in extensively managed areas as compared to intensively managed areas. Furthermore, wildlife contacts are likely and of potential importance. The results of this study add to the knowledge base used to model the spread of infectious disease in extensively managed livestock populations. Seasonal changes in animal densities and contact rates may impact the results of the models. Additionally, the effect of multiple livestock types on premises should be considered when the expected spread of disease is modeled in extensive livestock areas

Characterization of livestock herds in extensive agricultural settings in southwest Texas

Because of an ever-increasing threat of foreign animal disease outbreaks in the United States, there is a desire to develop strategies to prevent the occurrence of a foreign animal disease and control an outbreak if it does occur. Infectious disease models have been developed and are being used to determine reasonable mitigation strategies. However, little information is available concerning premises characteristics and movement of animals in extensively managed livestock areas. Hence adaptation of these models to areas where there is low livestock density is not easy. We collected empirical data, via mail out surveys, from an extensively managed livestock area. This will aid in improving the results of infectious disease models in these areas. In contrast to the intensively managed livestock that have previously been modeled, this study has shown that in areas of low livestock density, multiple livestock types often are managed on the same premises. Direct contacts, facilitated through the planned movement of animals, appear to have a greater seasonality in extensively managed areas as compared to intensively managed areas. Furthermore, wildlife contacts are likely and of potential importance. The results of this study add to the knowledge base used to model the spread of infectious disease in extensively managed livestock populations. Seasonal changes in animal densities and contact rates may impact the results of the models. Additionally, the effect of multiple livestock types on premises should be considered when the expected spread of disease is modeled in extensive livestock areas

An experimental model for calcium carbonate urolithiasis in goats

This article is also available at the journal website: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jvim.15061Background: Calcium carbonate is a common urolith type in small ruminants with no high-yield experimental model to evaluate animal susceptibility or preventative measure response. Hypothesis: That novel plastic winged implants would allow accumulation and quantification of calcium carbonate calculus formation in goats on a high-calcium diet and identify individual variation between goats in the mass of calculi produced. Animals: Eight nonpregnant 3- and 4-year-old Boer-cross does, weighing 22.3–39.5 kg, determined to be healthy based on physical examination, were used in these experiments. Methods: Prospective cohort study for in vivo experimental model development. Implants were placed into the urinary bladder lumen in 8 goats over 2 evaluation periods. The alfalfa-based ration had a total ration Ca : P of 3.29 and 3.84 : 1, respectively. Urine was collected at 0, 28, 56, and 84 days in the 1st experiment; blood and urine at those timepoints in the 2nd experiment. For each evaluation period, the implants were removed 84 days after implantation and weighed. Accumulated calculi mass was calculated and compared between goats and was analyzed for composition. Results: Implant retention was 100% and 86% in the 2 studies. All goats with retained implants accumulated calcium carbonate at a mean implant gain per day across studies ranging from 0.44 to 57.45 mg. Two goats accumulated (0.44–7.65 mg/day and 33.64 & 57.45 mg/day) significantly more urolith material than the cohort across both studies (P5.047). No routine analytes on blood or urine were found to be explanatory for the difference observed. Conclusions and Clinical Importance: These findings form a basis for implant and diet selection for use in future studies of urolithiasis development and for studies regarding individual susceptibility to urolithiasis. KEYWORDS 3D printing, calculogenesis, urinary calculi, urolithFunding information: Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicin

Epidemiology and molecular typing of Trypanosoma cruzi in naturally-infected hound dogs and associated triatomine vectors in Texas, USA

Dataset associated with publicatio

Restoring the Shiawassee Flats: Estuarine Gateway to Saginaw Bay

In 2011, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and Ducks Unlimited received a $1.5 million Sustain Our Great Lakes grant for the first phase of a wetland restoration project at the Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge, outside Saginaw, Michigan. Phase I of the restoration seeks to reconnect 994 acres of former farmland to the natural, dynamic hydrology of the Shiawassee River, which flows through the Refuge. In 2012, staff at the Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge contacted a team of master’s degree students at the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment and asked for an assessment of baseline conditions at the restoration site before the restoration project begins. The Refuge also asked for information about strategies used in other wetland restoration projects and about partners who might contribute to future restoration efforts at the Refuge. This report, organized into three sections, is the outcome of the team’s research. Part 1: Understanding the Past provides a brief history of the Flats and the Refuge, summarizing the key human and environmental factors which shaped their current conditions. • Saginaw County has experienced a 72% reduction in forests and a 96% reduction in wetlands since 1830. These losses were mirrored by dramatic increases in agricultural and urban land cover during this same time period. • The construction of drains, dikes, levees, and water control structures throughout the Flats has drastically altered the main channel position and sinuosity of the Shiawassee River and disrupted the natural flow regimes. The Flint and Bad Rivers also show extensive channel modifications near their confluence with the Shiawassee River. Part 2: Assessing the Present describes the current ecological conditions at the Refuge, including the restoration site, based on field data collected by the team in 2012. To collect these data, a fish community survey, an aquatic macroinvertebrate community survey, a vegetation survey, and water quality testing were conducted. • The fish community of the Shiawassee River is seasonally variable and distinct from the managed units surveyed in 2012, which exhibited a lack of migratory fishes and a predominance of sunfishes. Post-restoration fish monitoring during seasonal migrations and late summer would help evaluate improvements in richness of migratory and floodplain species within the Refuge. • The vegetation within the targeted restoration site and is primarily composed of weedy species. Annual vegetation monitoring by both ground sampling and remote sensing of community structure and composition could be used to assess changes in the plant community after restoration. • Aquatic macroinvertebrate species richness was greatest in the Grefe Pool, a currently restored and managed diked wetland. . All three macrohabitats sampled for macroinvertebrates indicated a macroinvertebrate community with high tolerance to nutrient loading and low dissolved oxygen. Post-restoration monitoring could compare v macroinvertebrate species richness in the restoration site to established wetland units like Grefe Pool. • Hydrologic analysis suggested that, during periods of low flow, significant discharge was released into the Saginaw River from storage in the wetlands of the Flats, exceeding or that measured from tributary river inputs. Further studies should be conducted to distinguish between low flow inputs from hydrologic storage in the Flats versus urban inputs from the city of Saginaw, directly downstream of the Flats. • Total reactive phosphorus loads were on average larger in the Saginaw River than the sum of phosphorus inputs from rivers entering the Saginaw. This indicates that the Flats themselves may be contributing available phosphorus to the Saginaw River, possibly due to release of phosphorus from sediments within the Flats. • Total inorganic nitrogen levels in the Saginaw River, however, were on average lower than the sum of the river inputs of nitrogen. This is indicative of an ability of the Flats to absorb soluble nitrogen, preventing it from entering the Saginaw River. Part 3: Planning for the Future presents case studies of wetland restoration on other National Wildlife Refuges and identifies potential partners and strategies for the Refuge’s future restoration activities. • Creating a post-restoration adaptive management plan could help the Refuge identify priorities for restoration and management, evaluate progress, and incorporate feedback from partners and monitoring, leading to long-term support from partners and ecologically sound outcomes. • Engaging many and varied partners in mutually informative and strategic planning in restoration of the Flats area could lead to increased support from both government officials and community groups, as well as funding and marketing opportunities. • Utilizing volunteers as part of Refuge activities could lead to community support, reduced project costs, stronger grant proposals, private partnerships, and unforeseen opportunities for funding.Master of ScienceMaster of Landscape ArchitectureNatural Resources and EnvironmentUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/97428/1/Shiawassee Master's Project Final Draft 2013.pd

A Scalable System for Production of Functional Pancreatic Progenitors from Human Embryonic Stem Cells

Development of a human embryonic stem cell (hESC)-based therapy for type 1 diabetes will require the translation of proof-of-principle concepts into a scalable, controlled, and regulated cell manufacturing process. We have previously demonstrated that hESC can be directed to differentiate into pancreatic progenitors that mature into functional glucose-responsive, insulin-secreting cells in vivo. In this study we describe hESC expansion and banking methods and a suspension-based differentiation system, which together underpin an integrated scalable manufacturing process for producing pancreatic progenitors. This system has been optimized for the CyT49 cell line. Accordingly, qualified large-scale single-cell master and working cGMP cell banks of CyT49 have been generated to provide a virtually unlimited starting resource for manufacturing. Upon thaw from these banks, we expanded CyT49 for two weeks in an adherent culture format that achieves 50–100 fold expansion per week. Undifferentiated CyT49 were then aggregated into clusters in dynamic rotational suspension culture, followed by differentiation en masse for two weeks with a four-stage protocol. Numerous scaled differentiation runs generated reproducible and defined population compositions highly enriched for pancreatic cell lineages, as shown by examining mRNA expression at each stage of differentiation and flow cytometry of the final population. Islet-like tissue containing glucose-responsive, insulin-secreting cells was generated upon implantation into mice. By four- to five-months post-engraftment, mature neo-pancreatic tissue was sufficient to protect against streptozotocin (STZ)-induced hyperglycemia. In summary, we have developed a tractable manufacturing process for the generation of functional pancreatic progenitors from hESC on a scale amenable to clinical entry

Optimasi Portofolio Resiko Menggunakan Model Markowitz MVO Dikaitkan dengan Keterbatasan Manusia dalam Memprediksi Masa Depan dalam Perspektif Al-Qur`an

Risk portfolio on modern finance has become increasingly technical, requiring the use of sophisticated mathematical tools in both research and practice. Since companies cannot insure themselves completely against risk, as human incompetence in predicting the future precisely that written in Al-Quran surah Luqman verse 34, they have to manage it to yield an optimal portfolio. The objective here is to minimize the variance among all portfolios, or alternatively, to maximize expected return among all portfolios that has at least a certain expected return. Furthermore, this study focuses on optimizing risk portfolio so called Markowitz MVO (Mean-Variance Optimization). Some theoretical frameworks for analysis are arithmetic mean, geometric mean, variance, covariance, linear programming, and quadratic programming. Moreover, finding a minimum variance portfolio produces a convex quadratic programming, that is minimizing the objective function ðð¥with constraintsð ð 𥠥 ðandð´ð¥ = ð. The outcome of this research is the solution of optimal risk portofolio in some investments that could be finished smoothly using MATLAB R2007b software together with its graphic analysis

A922 Sequential measurement of 1 hour creatinine clearance (1-CRCL) in critically ill patients at risk of acute kidney injury (AKI)

Meeting abstrac

Measurement of the top quark forward-backward production asymmetry and the anomalous chromoelectric and chromomagnetic moments in pp collisions at √s = 13 TeV

Abstract The parton-level top quark (t) forward-backward asymmetry and the anomalous chromoelectric (d̂ t) and chromomagnetic (μ̂ t) moments have been measured using LHC pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, collected in the CMS detector in a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb−1. The linearized variable AFB(1) is used to approximate the asymmetry. Candidate t t ¯ events decaying to a muon or electron and jets in final states with low and high Lorentz boosts are selected and reconstructed using a fit of the kinematic distributions of the decay products to those expected for t t ¯ final states. The values found for the parameters are AFB(1)=0.048−0.087+0.095(stat)−0.029+0.020(syst),μ̂t=−0.024−0.009+0.013(stat)−0.011+0.016(syst), and a limit is placed on the magnitude of | d̂ t| < 0.03 at 95% confidence level. [Figure not available: see fulltext.