Performance and Carcass Traits of Market Beef Cattle Supplemented Self-Fed Byproducts on Pasture: Final Report

Over a two year period (2007 and 2008), 162 head of beef steers were finished with self-fed byproducts on cool season grass pastures. Yearling steers were continuously grazed at the Neely-Kinyon Farm in southwest Iowa on cool season grasses that were predominantly fescue at a stocking density of 2.25 head/acre. Half of the cattle were implanted (with Synovex®-S) or half were not. Cattle received a diet of either soyhulls-dried distillers grain with solubles (DDGS) or ground corn-dried distillers grains with solubles that was offered through self-feeders. The rations were mixed at a 1:1 ratio with a mineral balancer added which included Rumensin®. Live cattle performance and carcass traits were not affected by diet. Implanted cattle outgained non-implanted over the entire finishing period (3.52 lbs/d vs. 3.17 lbs/d). This led to implanted cattle coming off test heavier (1324 lbs vs. 1277 lbs) and railing with heavier carcasses (826 lbs vs. 800 lbs). Ribeye areas were greater (13.1 in2 vs. 12.7 in2) for implanted cattle; which was probably due to the heavier carcass weights. Non-implanted cattle had superior quality grades (55% vs. 40%) of low choice or better. Fatty acid profiles from the first year were analyzed and showed that raw beef samples from cattle on the soyhulls diet had significantly higher C18:2 In conclusion, pasture rearing cattle, when given access to self-fed by-products, provides for excellent performance on both live performance and carcass traits. Some considerations should be made by the feeder in regards to time of year when marketing cattle and the cattle’s genetics. This system is an alternative to high-grain conventional beef finishing production in feedlots

Performance and Carcass Traits of Market Beef Cattle Supplemented Self-Fed Byproducts on Pasture: A Progress Report

Over a two year period (2007 and 2008), 162 head of beef steers were finished with self-fed byproducts on cool season grass pastures. Yearling steers were continuously grazed at the Neely-Kinyon Farm in southwest Iowa on cool season grasses that were predominantly fescue at a stocking density of 2.25 head/acre. Half of the cattle were implanted (with Synovex®-S) or and half were not. Cattle received a diet of either soyhulls-dried distillers grain with solubles or corn-dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS) that was offered as a meal through self-feeders. The rations were mixed in at 1:1 with a mineral balancer that included Rumensin®. Live cattle performance and carcass traits were not affected by diet. Implanted cattle outgained non-implanted over the entire finishing period (3.52 lbs/d vs. 3.17 lbs/d). This led to implanted cattle coming off test heavier (1324 lbs vs. 1277 lbs) and railing with heavier carcasses (826 lbs vs. 800 lbs). Ribeye areas were greater (13.1 in 2 vs. 12.7 in 2 ) for implanted cattle; which was probably due to the heavier carcass weights. Non-implanted cattle had superior quality grades (55% vs. 40%) of low choice or better. Year differences in quality grade (1023 vs. 985 in 2007 and 2008, respectively) were observed. This difference was attributed to factors that include genetic makeup of cattle, initial weights of cattle, time of year when cattle were harvested and grading technology. In conclusion, pasture rearing cattle, when given access to self-fed by-products, provides for excellent performance on both live performance and carcass traits. Some considerations should be made by the feeder in regards to time of year when marketing cattle and the cattle’s genetics. This system is an alternative to high-grain conventional beef finishing production in feedlots

Finishing Beef Cattle on Grass with Self-Fed By-Products 2006 Results

There has been increasing interest by consumers in beef from cattle that are finished or fattened “on grass” rather than in a conventional feedlot. Also recently, Iowa has had a proliferation of plants that produce ethanol from corn. One by-product of this process is distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS). The objective of this study was to feed beef cattle to market weight by grazing cool-season grass supplemented with self-fed by-product pellets

Cd2+ Toxicity to a Green Alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii as Influenced by Its Adsorption on TiO2 Engineered Nanoparticles

In the present study, Cd2+ adsorption on polyacrylate-coated TiO2 engineered nanoparticles (TiO2-ENs) and its effect on the bioavailability as well as toxicity of Cd2+ to a green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii were investigated. TiO2-ENs could be well dispersed in the experimental medium and their pHpzc is approximately 2. There was a quick adsorption of Cd2+ on TiO2-ENs and a steady state was reached within 30 min. A pseudo-first order kinetics was found for the time-related changes in the amount of Cd2+ complexed with TiO2-ENs. At equilibrium, Cd2+ adsorption followed the Langmuir isotherm with the maximum binding capacity 31.9, 177.1, and 242.2 mg/g when the TiO2-EN concentration was 1, 10, and 100 mg/l, respectively. On the other hand, Cd2+ toxicity was alleviated in the presence of TiO2-ENs. Algal growth was less suppressed in treatments with comparable total Cd2+ concentration but more TiO2-ENs. However, such toxicity difference disappeared and all the data points could be fitted to a single Logistic dose-response curve when cell growth inhibition was plotted against the free Cd2+ concentration. No detectable amount of TiO2-ENs was found to be associated with the algal cells. Therefore, TiO2-ENs could reduce the free Cd2+ concentration in the toxicity media, which further lowered its bioavailability and toxicity to C. reinhardtii

Enhanced thermoelectric performance of a chalcopyrite compound CuIn3Se5-xTex (x=0~0.5) through crystal structure engineering

In this work the chalcopyrite CuIn3Se5−xTex (x = 0~0.5) with space group through isoelectronic substitution of Te for Se have been prepared, and the crystal structure dilation has been observed with increasing Te content. This substitution allows the anion position displacement ∆u = 0.25-u to be zero at x ≈ 0.15. However, the material at x = 0.1 (∆u = 0.15 × 10−3), which is the critical Te content, presents the best thermoelectric (TE) performance with dimensionless figure of merit ZT = 0.4 at 930 K. As x value increases from 0.1, the quality factor B, which informs about how large a ZT can be expected for any given material, decreases, and the TE performance degrades gradually due to the reduction in nH and enhancement in κL. Combining with the ZTs from several chalcopyrite compounds, it is believable that the best thermoelectric performance can be achieved at a certain ∆u value (∆u ≠ 0) for a specific space group if their crystal structures can be engineered

A Novel Application of the MIRC Repository in Medical Education

Medical students on the radiology elective in our institution create electronic presentations to present to each other as part of the requirements for the rotation. Access was given to previous students’ presentations via the web-based system, Medical Imaging Resource Center (MIRC) project, created and supported by the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). RadPix Power 2 MIRC (Weadock Software, LLC, Ann Arbor, MI) software converted the Microsoft PowerPoint (Redmond, WA) presentations to a MIRC-compatible format. The textual information on each slide is searchable across the entire MIRC database. Future students will be able to benefit from the work of their predecessors.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/41390/1/10278_2004_Article_1907.pd

Country-specific birth weight and length in type 1 diabetes high-risk HLA genotypes in combination with prenatal characteristics

Objective:To examine the relationship between high-risk human leukocyte antigen (HLA) genotypes for type 1 diabetes and birth size in combination with prenatal characteristics in different countries.Study Design:Four high-risk HLA genotypes were enrolled in the Environmental determinants of Diabetes in the Young study newborn babies from the general population in Finland, Germany, Sweden and the United States. Stepwise regression analyses were used to adjust for country, parental physical characteristics and environmental factors during pregnancy.Result:Regression analyses did not reveal differences in birth size between the four type 1 diabetes high-risk HLA genotypes. Compared with DQ 4/8 in each country, (1) DQ 2/2 children were heavier in the United States (P=0.028) mostly explained however, by parental weight; (2) DQ 2/8 (P=0.023) and DQ 8/8 (P=0.046) children were longer in Sweden independent of parents height and as well as (3) in the United States for DQ 2/8 (P=0.023), but again dependent on parental height.Conclusion:Children born with type 1 diabetes high-risk HLA genotypes have comparable birth size. Longitudinal follow-up of these children should reveal whether birth size differences between countries contribute to the risk for islet autoimmunity and type 1 diabetes.Journal of Perinatology advance online publication, 28 April 2011; doi:10.1038/jp.2011.26

Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) Strain ST398 Is Present in Midwestern U.S. Swine and Swine Workers

BACKGROUND: Recent research has demonstrated that many swine and swine farmers in the Netherlands and Canada are colonized with MRSA. However, no studies to date have investigated carriage of MRSA among swine and swine farmers in the United States (U.S.). METHODS: We sampled the nares of 299 swine and 20 workers from two different production systems in Iowa and Illinois, comprising approximately 87,000 live animals. MRSA isolates were typed by pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) using SmaI and EagI restriction enzymes, and by multi locus sequence typing (MLST). PCR was used to determine SCCmec type and presence of the pvl gene. RESULTS: In this pilot study, overall MRSA prevalence in swine was 49% (147/299) and 45% (9/20) in workers. The prevalence of MRSA carriage among production system A's swine varied by age, ranging from 36% (11/30) in adult swine to 100% (60/60) of animals aged 9 and 12 weeks. The prevalence among production system A's workers was 64% (9/14). MRSA was not isolated from production system B's swine or workers. Isolates examined were not typeable by PFGE when SmaI was used, but digestion with EagI revealed that the isolates were clonal and were not related to common human types in Iowa (USA100, USA300, and USA400). MLST documented that the isolates were ST398. CONCLUSIONS: These results show that colonization of swine by MRSA was very common on one swine production system in the midwestern U.S., suggesting that agricultural animals could become an important reservoir for this bacterium. MRSA strain ST398 was the only strain documented on this farm. Further studies are examining carriage rates on additional farms

Inheritance of quantitative expression of erythrocyte glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity in the Negro—a twin study

Studies have been conducted on eight sets of monozygous and nine sets of dizygous female Negro twins, both members of whom were heterozygous for G-6-PD deficiency. Twins were studied both by assay of erythrocytic G-6-PD activity and by the methemoglobin elution test (MET). The MET is a procedure which identifies histochemically cells with appreciable G-6-PD activity and permits accurate determination of the percentage of such cells in heterozygotes. Monozygous twins showed significantly less “within-pair” variation than dizygous twins with both the MET and G-6-PD assay.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/44115/1/10528_2004_Article_BF00487735.pd