Estimation and analysis of beef gain roughage-concentrate production functions

Through the 1960s and early 1970s, many cattle feeders formulated feedlot rations composed primarily of grains. Rations high in grain were relatively inexpensive and economical. For example, Scott and Broadbent [20] constructed a programming model in 1972 that utilized the California net energy system as developed by Lofgreen and Garett [16] and adopted by the National Research Council (NRC) of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to estimate economical rations. They concluded, In most feedlot operations, it appears that the maximum possible rate of gain w ill be most profitable under usual price relationships” [20, p. 24]. Although maximizing rate of gain is a biological objective, it was congruent with the economic objective of maximizing profits. Therefore, there were several reasons for little interest in investigating the trade-off or substitution rates between roughages and concentrates in the beef feeding ration. First, concentrates were relatively inexpensive. Second, addition of roughages to rations generally reduces rate of gain. A longer time on feed thus increases the nonfeed costs, such as labor, yardage fees, and carrying charges, and reduces the annual volume of a lot. Third, roughages generally are bulkier and more difficult to handle than concentrates. They may require more expensive equipment and large long-term capital investments. Fourth, many feedlots were designed and constructed to provide high-concentrate rations. Hence, little effort was exerted toward investigating the rate of substitution between roughages and concentrates

Fluorescent humanized anti-CEA antibody specifically labels metastatic pancreatic cancer in a patient-derived orthotopic xenograft (PDOX) mouse model.

Pancreatic cancer is a highly lethal disease in part due to incomplete tumor resection. Targeting by tumor-specific antibodies conjugated with a fluorescent label can result in selective labeling of cancer in vivo for surgical navigation. In the present study, we describe a patient-derived orthotopic xenograft model of pancreatic cancer that recapitulated the disease on a gross and microscopic level, along with physiologic clinical manifestations. We additionally show that the use of an anti-CEA antibody conjugated to the near-infrared (NIR) fluorescent dye, IRDye800CW, can selectively highlight the pancreatic cancer and its metastases in this model with a tumor-to-background ratio of 3.5 (SEM 0.9). The present results demonstrate the clinical potential of this labeling technique for fluorescence-guided surgery of pancreatic cancer

MCG+00-32-16: An Irregular Galaxy Close to the Lowest Redshift Absorber on the 3C 273 Line of Sight

MCG+00-32-16 is the galaxy closest in position-velocity space to the lowest redshift Ly$\alpha$ absorber along the line-of-sight to the quasar 3C 273. Its projected separation is 204 (d/19 Mpc) kpc, where d is the distance from the Milky Way to the galaxy, and the redshift difference is only 94 km/s; HI 1225+01 is slightly closer in projected separation to the absorber, but has a greater redshift difference. We present HI synthesis array mapping and CCD photometry in B and R for MCG+00-32-16. The HI disk is rotating in such a way that the side of the galaxy closer to the sight-line to the quasar has the larger velocity difference from the absorber. The absorber may be a ``failed dwarf'' member of a poor galaxy group of which MCG+00-32-16 and HI 1225+01 are the only members to have formed stars.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figures, accepted by Astrophysical Journa

Halo concentrations in the standard LCDM cosmology

We study the concentration of dark matter halos and its evolution in N-body simulations of the standard LCDM cosmology. The results presented in this paper are based on 4 large N-body simulations with about 10 billion particles each: the Millennium-I and II, Bolshoi, and MultiDark simulations. The MultiDark (or BigBolshoi) simulation is introduced in this paper. This suite of simulations with high mass resolution over a large volume allows us to compute with unprecedented accuracy the concentration over a large range of scales (about six orders of magnitude in mass), which constitutes the state-of-the-art of our current knowledge on this basic property of dark matter halos in the LCDM cosmology. We find that there is consistency among the different simulation data sets. We confirm a novel feature for halo concentrations at high redshifts: a flattening and upturn with increasing mass. The concentration c(M,z) as a function of mass and the redshift and for different cosmological parameters shows a remarkably complex pattern. However, when expressed in terms of the linear rms fluctuation of the density field sigma(M,z), the halo concentration c(sigma) shows a nearly-universal simple U-shaped behaviour with a minimum at a well defined scale at sigma=0.71. Yet, some small dependences with redshift and cosmology still remain. At the high-mass end (sigma < 1) the median halo kinematic profiles show large signatures of infall and highly radial orbits. This c-sigma(M,z) relation can be accurately parametrized and provides an analytical model for the dependence of concentration on halo mass. When applied to galaxy clusters, our estimates of concentrations are substantially larger -- by a factor up to 1.5 -- than previous results from smaller simulations, and are in much better agreement with results of observations. (abridged)Comment: Submitted to MNRA

Dark Matter and Gas Concentrations in the NGC 4532 / DDO 137 System

Neutral hydrogen synthesis mapping of NGC 4532 and DDO 137, a pair of Sm galaxies on the edge of the Virgo cluster, is used to determine rotation curves for each of the galaxies and to resolve the structure and kinematics of three distinct HI concentrations embedded in an extended envelope of diffuse HI discovered in earlier Arecibo studies of the system. The HI masses of the three concentrations do not appear to be sufficient for them to be self-gravitating; however, their HImasses and dynamical masses are very similar to those of faint Im galaxies in the Virgo cluster. The peak HI column density of each of the clouds is close to the star formation threshold, but CCD images in B and R reveal no trace of stars nor star formation. If the system is gravitationally bound and in Virial equilibrium, we find its total mass to be ten times that within the outermost HI contours of the individual galaxies and clouds. Thirty-seven percent of the total HI lies outside the boundaries of the individual galaxies as determined by the VLA mapping; 28% cannot be ascribed to either galaxy nor to the discrete concentrations. One possible way to account for the velocity field and the large quantity of diffuse gas is to assume that DDO 137, the gas concentrations and other apparent tidal features are due to gas infall into clumps within the dark matter potential of the group, and that prior to the interaction the group consisted of an irregular galaxy (NGC 4532) and a large, star-poor HI cloud like HI 1225+01 (Giovanelli et al. 1991)

Influence of baryons on the orbital structure of dark matter haloes

We explore the dynamical signatures imprinted by baryons on dark matter haloes during the formation process using the OverWhelmingly Large Simulations (OWLS), a set of state-of-the-art high-resolution cosmological hydrodynamical simulations. We present a detailed study of the effects of the implemented feedback prescriptions on the orbits of dark matter particles, stellar particles and subhaloes, analysing runs with no feedback, with stellar feedback and with feedback from supermassive black holes. We focus on the central regions (0.25 r_{200}) of haloes with virial masses ~ 6 x 10^{13} (~ 7 x 10^{11}) Msun/h at z = 0(2). We also investigate how the orbital content (relative fractions of the different orbital types) of these haloes depends on several key parameters such as their mass, redshift and dynamical state. The results of spectral analyses of the orbital content of these simulations are compared, and the change in fraction of box, tube and irregular orbits is quantified. Box orbits are found to dominate the orbital structure of dark matter haloes in cosmological simulations. There is a strong anticorrelation between the fraction of box orbits and the central baryon fraction. While radiative cooling acts to reduce the fraction of box orbits, strong feedback implementations result in a similar orbital distribution to that of the dark matter only case. The orbital content described by the stellar particles is found to be remarkably similar to that drawn from the orbits of dark matter particles, suggesting that either they have forgotten their dynamical history, or that subhaloes bringing in stars are not biased significantly with respect to the main distribution. The orbital content of the subhaloes is in broad agreement with that seen in the outer regions of the particle distributions.Comment: 18 pages, 13 figures, 3 tables. Accepted for publication in MNRA

Early Cold Stored Platelet Transfusion Following Severe Injury: A Randomized Clinical Trial

OBJECTIVE: To determine the feasibility, efficacy, and safety of early cold stored platelet transfusion compared with standard care resuscitation in patients with hemorrhagic shock. BACKGROUND: Data demonstrating the safety and efficacy of early cold stored platelet transfusion are lacking following severe injury. METHODS: A phase 2, multicenter, randomized, open label, clinical trial was performed at 5 US trauma centers. Injured patients at risk of large volume blood transfusion and the need for hemorrhage control procedures were enrolled and randomized. The intervention was the early transfusion of a single apheresis cold stored platelet unit, stored for up to 14 days versus standard care resuscitation. The primary outcome was feasibility and the principal clinical outcome for efficacy and safety was 24-hour mortality. RESULTS: Mortality at 24 hours was 5.9% in patients who were randomized to early cold stored platelet transfusion compared with 10.2% in the standard care arm (difference, -4.3%; 95% CI, -12.8% to 3.5%; P =0.26). No significant differences were found for any of the prespecified ancillary outcomes. Rates of arterial and/or venous thromboembolism and adverse events did not differ across treatment groups. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: In severely injured patients, early cold stored platelet transfusion is feasible, safe and did not result in a significant lower rate of 24-hour mortality. Early cold stored platelet transfusion did not result in a higher incidence of arterial and/or venous thrombotic complications or adverse events. The storage age of the cold stored platelet product was not associated with significant outcome differences

Resting pulmonary haemodynamics and shunting: a comparison of sea-level inhabitants to high altitude Sherpas

The incidence of blood flow through intracardiac shunt and intrapulmonary arteriovenous anastomoses (IPAVA) may differ between Sherpas permanently residing at high altitude (HA) and sea-level (SL) inhabitants as a result of evolutionary pressure to improve gas exchange and/or resting pulmonary haemodynamics. To test this hypothesis we compared sea-level inhabitants at SL (SL-SL; n = 17), during acute isocapnic hypoxia (SL-HX; n = 7) and following 3 weeks at 5050 m (SL-HA; n = 8 non-PFO subjects) to Sherpas at 5050 m (n = 14). inline image, heart rate, pulmonary artery systolic pressure (PASP) and cardiac index (Qi) were measured during 5 min of room air breathing at SL and HA, during 20 min of isocapnic hypoxia (SL-HX; inline image = 47 mmHg) and during 5 min of hyperoxia (inline image = 1.0; Sherpas only). Intracardiac shunt and IPAVA blood flow was evaluated by agitated saline contrast echocardiography. Although PASP was similar between groups at HA (Sherpas: 30.0 ± 6.0 mmHg; SL-HA: 32.7 ± 4.2 mmHg; P = 0.27), it was greater than SL-SL (19.4 ± 2.1 mmHg; P < 0.001). The proportion of subjects with intracardiac shunt was similar between groups (SL-SL: 41%; Sherpas: 50%). In the remaining subjects, IPAVA blood flow was found in 100% of subjects during acute isocapnic hypoxia at SL, but in only 4 of 7 Sherpas and 1 of 8 SL-HA subjects at rest. In conclusion, differences in resting pulmonary vascular regulation, intracardiac shunt and IPAVA blood flow do not appear to account for any adaptation to HA in Sherpas. Despite elevated pulmonary pressures and profound hypoxaemia, IPAVA blood flow in all subjects at HA was lower than expected compared to acute normobaric hypoxia

Offspring Hormones Reflect the Maternal Prenatal Social Environment: Potential for Foetal Programming?

Females of many species adaptively program their offspring to predictable environmental conditions, a process that is often mediated by hormones. Laboratory studies have shown, for instance, that social density affects levels of maternal cortisol and testosterone, leading to fitness-relevant changes in offspring physiology and behaviour. However, the effects of social density remain poorly understood in natural populations due to the difficulty of disentangling confounding influences such as climatic variation and food availability. Colonially breeding marine mammals offer a unique opportunity to study maternal effects in response to variable colony densities under similar ecological conditions. We therefore quantified maternal and offspring hormone levels in 84 Antarctic fur seals (Arctocephalus gazella) from two closely neighbouring colonies of contrasting density. Hair samples were used as they integrate hormone levels over several weeks or months and therefore represent in utero conditions during foetal development. We found significantly higher levels of cortisol and testosterone (both P < 0.001) in mothers from the high density colony, reflecting a more stressful and competitive environment. In addition, offspring testosterone showed a significant positive correlation with maternal cortisol (P < 0.05). Although further work is needed to elucidate the potential consequences for offspring fitness, these findings raise the intriguing possibility that adaptive foetal programming might occur in fur seals in response to the maternal social environment. They also lend support to the idea that hormonally mediated maternal effects may depend more strongly on the maternal regulation of androgen rather than cortisol levels

Treatment of anxiety in patients with coronary heart disease: Rationale and design of the UNderstanding the benefits of exercise and escitalopram in anxious patients WIth coroNary heart Disease (UNWIND) randomized clinical trial

Anxiety is highly prevalent among patients with coronary heart disease (CHD), and there is growing evidence that high levels of anxiety are associated with worse prognosis. However, few studies have evaluated the efficacy of treating anxiety in CHD patients for reducing symptoms and improving clinical outcomes. Exercise and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors have been shown to be effective in treating patients with depression, but have not been studied in cardiac patients with high anxiety