Crossbreeding hogs for pork production

Some 11 or 12 million slaughter hogs are produced on Iowa farms each year. The sale of these hogs produces the largest single item (about 40 percent) of the annual farm income of the state. Any procedure that will produce these hogs more efficiently will increase the net income o f the farmer who uses it, as well as that of the state as a whole

Better Living Through Chemistry: Addressing Emerging Antibiotic Resistance

The increasing emergence of multidrug-resistant bacteria is recognized as a major threat to human health worldwide. While the use of small molecule antibiotics has enabled many modern medical advances, it has also facilitated the development of resistant organisms. This minireview provides an overview of current small molecule drugs approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in humans, the unintended consequences of antibiotic use, and the mechanisms that underlie the development of drug resistance. Promising new approaches and strategies to counter antibiotic-resistant bacteria with small molecules are highlighted. However, continued public investment in this area is critical to maintain an edge in our evolutionary arms race against antibiotic-resistant microorganisms. Impact statement The alarming increase in antibiotic-resistant microorganisms is a rapidly emerging threat to human health throughout the world. Historically, small molecule drugs have played a major role in controlling bacterial infections and they continue to offer tremendous potential in countering resistant organisms. This minireview provides a broad overview of the relevant issues, including the diversity of FDA-approved small molecule drugs and mechanisms of drug resistance, unintended consequences of antibiotic use, the current state of development for small molecule antibacterials and financial challenges that impact progress towards novel therapies. The content will be informative to diverse stakeholders, including clinicians, basic scientists, translational scientists and policy makers, and may be used as a bridge between these key players to advance the development of much-needed therapeutics

Characterization of one-dimensional quantum channels in InAs/AlSb

We report the magnetoresistance characteristics of one-dimensional electrons confined in a single InAs quantum well sandwiched between AlSb barriers. As a result of a novel nanofabrication scheme that utilizes a 3nm-shallow wet chemical etching to define the electrostatic lateral confinement, the system is found to possess three important properties: specular boundary scattering, a strong lateral confinement potential, and a conducting channel width that is approximately the lithography width. Ballistic transport phenomena, including the quenching of the Hall resistance, the last Hall plateau, and a strong negative bend resistance, are observed at 4K in cross junctions with sharp corners. In a ring geometry, we have observed Aharonov-Bohm interference that exhibits characteristics different from those of the GaAs counterpart due to the ballistic nature of electron transport and the narrowness of the conducting channel width.Comment: pdf-file, 8 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev.

Does Baylisascaris procyonis Phylogeny Correlate with That of the Raccoon (Procyon lotor)

Baylisacaris procyonis, commonly known as the raccoon roundworm, is a parasite that inhabits the small intestine of the North American raccoon (Procyon lotor). Although humans do not typically become the definitive host, humans can become infected through handling soil containing eggs. B. procyonis can induce serious health complications in cases of human infection, including degenerative retinal and behavioral changes, coma, and even death. High prevalence of B. procyonis in a raccoon population increases the probability of transference to human hosts. In our study, we analyzed the genetic structure of B. procyonis harvested from raccoons of southwestern Ohio, and compared this to the genetic structure of the raccoons they inhabited. It is our hypothesis that the genetic structuring of the roundworms is the same as the genetic structuring of the raccoons. We isolated DNA from the roundworms using the method outlined in the DNA Minikit (Qiagen). Our research team isolated DNA from each roundworm sample and sent it to the Plant-Microbe Genomics Facility at The Ohio State University for gene amplification and sequencing. We built phylogenetic trees using these sequences, and compared these trees to some constructed for the raccoons. The correlations drawn between the raccoon and B. procyonis phylogenetic trees will help us better understand the relationship between the two species

Baylisascaris procyonis Impacts Raccoon (Procyon lotor) Diets

Raccoons (Procyon lotor) are the definitive host for raccoon roundworms (Baylisascaris procyonis). Raccoon roundworm is responsible for a dangerous neurological disease known as larva migrans encephalopathy. Raccoons are omnivorous animals and rely on various food items. Dietary analyses help determine how a raccoon changes its diet in response to environmental features. Raccoons eat whatever food resource is most convenient and abundant. Parasite infections can potentially affect host eating habits in order to keep the host alive and active longer. In this study, we analyzed the diets of necropsied raccoons from ten townships of Clark and Greene Counties by examining their stomach contents. We categorized stomach contents by separating out plant material, vertebrate tissue, and invertebrate tissue. We measured the total stomach mass and the mass of plant material alone in order to compare and obtain a percentage of plant material in the raccoons’ diet. We conducted two chi-squared tests for equality of distributions. We tested the null hypotheses that raccoons from townships with high prevalence (\u3e60%) have the same vertebrate tissue and plant tissue prevalence as raccoons from townships with low roundworm prevalence

Baylisascaris procyonis prevalence in raccoons (Procyon lotor) and its relation to landscape features

Raccoons (Procyon lotor) are the final host for raccoon roundworm (Baylisascaris procyonis). Raccoon roundworm is the leading cause of a dangerous neurological disease known as larva migrans encephalopathy. Land fragmentation occurs when natural environments are broken up by urban or agricultural landscapes. Raccoons thrive in urban environments, while raccoons in agricultural settings forage over larger areas than raccoons in urban settings do. Land fragmentation affects concentrations of B. procyonis parasites in intermediate hosts. We calculated the prevalence of raccoon roundworm in 9 townships of Greene and Clark Counties by necropsying 226 raccoon intestines. Prevalence is defined as the number of raccoons infected with roundworm divided by the total number of raccoons sampled. We determined that the prevalence of B. procyonis from Beavercreek township is significantly lower than the other townships (χ2 = 25.19, p-value = 0.0007). Prevalence of raccoon roundworm in this region is lower than many areas in the Midwestern United States, suggesting the need for further research to determine reasons for the lower prevalence in the Ohio region

Does Baylisascaris procyonis Impact Raccoon (Procyon lotor) Genetics?

Raccoons (Procyon lotor) are the final host for raccoon roundworms (Baylisascaris procyonis). Raccoon roundworm is the leading cause of a dangerous neurological disease, known as larva migrans encephalopathy. Phylogenetic trees illustrate co-evolutionary events between species living in a symbiotic relationship with each other. Throughout the coevolution of host and parasite, many aspects of a population affect the way the members interact with one another and with symbiotic species. In order to evaluate the relationship between host and parasite in regards to diet, we isolated DNA from intestinal wall tissue, amplified a portion of exon 2 from MHC II, and sent our samples to Ohio State University for sequencing. We calculated heterozygosities for the nine townships we surveyed. We used a chi-squared test for equality of distributions to test whether raccoons from townships with above 60% prevalence have different heterozygosity for this locus than other raccoons. These data will help us to understand the relationship between raccoons and raccoon roundworm