Developing a Heat Stress Model in Dairy Cows Using an Electric Heat Blanket(EHB)

Heat stress (HS) is an annual environmental issue which negatively affects a variety of production parameters including milk yield and composition, growth, and reproduction.However, precisely studying HS typically requires expensive climate controlled facilities; infrastructure inaccessible to most researchers.Thus, study objectiveswere to explore the efficacy of an electric heat blanket (EHB) as an alternative method to study HSand to determine whether EHB-induced hyperthermia affects production parameters similar to natural HS.Utilizing the EHB increased body temperature indices (rectal temperatures and respiration rate)and reduced dry matter intakeand milk yield. Our results indicate that employing the EHB affects production parameters similarly to natural HS and thus the EHB is an effectiveandinexpensive research tool to evaluate the biological consequences of HS in lactating dairy cows

Effects of an Oral Supplement Containing Calcium and Live Yeast on Circulating Calcium and Production Parameters Following I.V. Lipopolysaccharide Infusion in Dairy Cows

Administrating lipopolysaccharide (LPS) decreases circulating calcium (Ca) and markedly reduces both feed intake and milk yield in lactating cows. Calcium is involved in immune system activation and live yeast can increase feed intake. Whether supplemental live yeast and Ca benefits immune-challenged cows remains unclear. Therefore, study objectives were to evaluate if providing an oral supplement containing soluble Ca, live yeast and other micronutrients would ameliorate LPS-induced hypocalcemia and production parameters in lactating dairy cows. Providing an oral supplement containing Ca and live yeast prior to and following LPS administration markedly ameliorated the LPS-induced hypocalcemia and improved DMI and milk yield. Overall, utilizing an oral supplement may be a valuable management strategy to improve animal welfare and productivity during and following immunoactivation. Additionally, infusing i.v. LPS appears to be an effective technique to model hypocalcemia and to evaluate dietary strategies aimed at increasing circulating calcium in lactating dairy cows

Leaky Gut’s Contribution to Inefficient Nutrient Utilization

There are a variety of situations in an animal’s life when nutrient utilization is reprioritized from productive towards agriculturally unproductive purposes. Two well-known examples that markedly reduce production are heat stress and ketosis. Decreased feed intake, experienced during both disorders, is unable to fully explain production losses. Additionally, both disorders are characterized by negative energy balance, body weight loss, inflammation, and liver fat accumulation. While the metabolism of ketosis and heat stress has been thoroughly studied for the last 40 years, the initial insult in the cascade of events ultimately reducing productivity in both heat-stressed and ketotic cows has not been identified. To that end, we have generated preliminary data strongly implicating a metabolic disruptor, endotoxin, as the underlying cause in each case

The Story/History of Japan: Producing Knowledge by Integrating the Study of Japanese Literature and Japanese History

This essay discusses the benefits to student learning when we integrate the study of Japanese literature and Japanese history through the curricular model of "linked courses."  The essay begins by examining the process of linking an introductory Japanese literature course and introductory Japanese history course, and continues by explaining its pedagogical advantages.  Specifically, the collaboration of literary and historical study provides students greater access to the material and, subsequently, the opportunity for deeper analysis.  Students can better understand how historical context informs the literature and how literary representation enhances historical knowledge.  But in addition, this teaching model provokes broader questions about the production of knowledge itself: the disciplinary integration creates a learning environment in which we can ask how we know what we know, or in this case, how we come to understand both the "story" and the "history" of Japan