Analyzing the Utilization and Trade of Distillers’ Dried Grains with Solubles

The production and consumption of distillers’ dried grains with solubles (DDGS), a coproduct of corn-based ethanol, has rapidly grown over the last decade in the United States (U.S.) and lately in other countries that prompt biofuel production, such as Argentina. DDGS has a more concentrated nutritional value relative to traditional feed grains and can be used in feed rations to meet the energy and protein requirements. In the first study, I evaluated the factors that determine the exports of U.S. DDGS, while the second study focused on the effects of the inclusion of DDGS in the feed rations of swine in Argentina. In the U.S., the feed use of DDGS has grown more than threefold between marketing year (MY) 2004/05 and 2014/15 and, over the same period, the demand for U.S. DDGS from global markets has also quickly risen. Therefore, the objective of this study was to identify the determinants of U.S. DDGS exports through a gravity model and develop a baseline of the DDGS exports to major international buyers up to 2020. This baseline was then used to evaluate the impacts of variation in the key determinants on DDGS exports in the future. Results suggest that importers’ meat production and consumption, importers’ stock of cattle, technical barriers to trade, tariffs, and U.S. ethanol production were influential to U.S. DDGS exports. In the second part of this thesis the potential cost and phosphorus quantity effects of including DDGS in the feed rations on the Argentinean swine industry were analyzed. A conventional feed ration without DDGS and an alternative feed ration including DDGS were studied using cost and phosphorus minimization models for three different growth categories of swine in their growing and finishing growth stages. Results suggest that incorporating DDGS in a swine feed ration can potentially achieve the goals of minimum cost and minimum phosphorus content simultaneously. My assessment also implies that the Argentinean swine industry could benefit in cost savings of up to US $19.21 million and a reduction in phosphorus by five percent if DDGS was fully adopted in the feed rations for all growth categories of swine

Assessment of Poly(ADP-ribose) Polymerase1 (PARP1) expression and activity in cells purified from blood and milk of dairy cattle

Poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation (PAR) is a post-translational protein modification catalysed by enzyme member of the poly(ADP-ribose) polymerases (PARPs) family. The activation of several PARPs is triggered by DNA strand breakage and the main PARP enzyme involved in this process is PARP1. Besides its involvement in DNA repair, PARP1 is involved in several cellular processes including transcription, epigenetics, chromatin re-modelling as well as in the maintenance of genomic stability. Moreover, several studies in human and animal models showed PARP1 activation in various inflammatory disorders. The aims of the study were (1) to characterize PARP1 expression in bovine peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and (2) to evaluate PAR levels as a potential inflammatory marker in cells isolated from blood and milk samples following different types of infection, including mastitis. Our results show that (i) bovine PBMC express PARP1; (ii) lymphocytes exhibit higher expression of PARP1 than monocytes; (iii) PARP1 and PAR levels were higher in circulating PBMCs of infected cows; (iv) PAR levels were higher in cells isolated from milk with higher Somatic Cell Counts (SCC > 100,000 cells/mL) than in cells from milk with low SCCs. In conclusion, these findings suggest that PARP1 is activated during mastitis, which may prove to be a useful biomarker of mastitis

Fatigue crack growth in inhomogeneous steel components

Massive low-alloy high-strength steel components often exhibit microstructure variations from surface to core due to decreasing cooling rates when moving towards the interior. Since different steel constituents exhibit different fatigue crack growth (FCG) behaviors, both the overall and local FCG rates are expected to be influenced by the microstructural change that in turn affects the crack shape. The case of slack-quenched components with simple geometries, having a surface flaw, and subjected to constant-force-amplitude tensile fatigue, is first examined theoretically. The microstructural variations are hypothesized by considering low-alloy steel hardenabilities and medium quench severities; thereafter, the FCG is computed by considering (during each integration step) the stress intensity factor amplitude and the FCG behavior of different points of the crack front, the pointwise FCG properties being determined by the local steel constituents fractions. Simulation results are compared with experimental evidences from a recent failure in a 90 mm diameter low-alloy steel connection rod of a 2460 kW naval diesel generato

New insights into the significance of PARP-1 activation: flow cytometric detection of poly(ADP-ribose) as marker of bovine intramammary infection

Bovine intramammary infections are common diseases affecting dairy cattle worldwide and represent a major focus of veterinary research due to financial losses and food safety concerns. The identification of new biomarkers of intramammary infection, useful for monitoring dairy cows’ health and wellness verification, represents a key advancement having potential beneficial effects on public health. In vitro experiments, using bovine peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) stimulated with the bacterial endotoxin lipopolysaccharide (LPS) allowed to perform a flow cytometric assay to evaluate in vivo poly-ADP-ribose (PAR) levels. Results showed a significant increase of PAR after 1h of treatment, which is consistent with the involvement of PARP activity in the inflammatory response. This study investigated PARP-1 activation in leukocyte subpopulations from bovine milk samples during udder infection. A flow cytometric assay was therefore performed to evaluate the PAR content on milk leukocytes subsets of cows with and without intramammary infection (IMI). Results showed that milk lymphocytes and macrophages isolated from cows with IMI had a significant increase of PAR content compared to uninfected samples. These results suggest mastitis as a new model for the study of the role of PARP in zoonotic inflammatory diseases, thereby opening new horizons for the "One Health" perspective connecting animal and human health

Psychological Well-Being, Self-Esteem, Quality of Life and Gender Differences as Determinants of Post-Traumatic Growth in Long-Term Knee Rotationplasty Survivors: A Cohort Study

: Rotationplasty (RP) is a special surgical technique for bone tumors of the lower limb and is the chosen procedure for children under 6 with bone sarcoma in the distal femur. Leg reconstruction results in an unusual aspect of the limb potentially giving life-long emotional outcomes, especially considering the young age of most RP patients. Although the high level of the quality of life of these patients has been previously reported, aspects related to long-term psychological well-being, self-esteem and life satisfaction, particularly regarding the gender, procreation and parenting, have never been explored. The aim of this study was to assess the general degree of psychological well-being of RP patients, with specific reference to gender, procreation and parenting. Twenty long-term RP survivors of high-grade bone sarcoma participated in the study. They were administered the following validated questionnaires: HADS for psychological well-being (degree of anxiety and depression), Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI), RSES for self-esteem, SF-36 for quality of life, SWLS extended to life satisfaction, and ABIS for body image integration. Data on education, marriage, employment and parenthood were gathered. All the scores obtained were very close to normal references. The only gender difference was found for the TCI Cooperativeness scale, which was higher in women than in men. A satisfactory psychological well-being in terms of both self-esteem and integration of the prosthetic joint limb into one's body image, with relatively limited amount of anxiety/depression, good quality of life, and good temperament and character traits, was found. No major gender differences were reported

Sustainable Synthesis of FITC Chitosan-Capped Gold Nanoparticles for Biomedical Applications

The quest for novel nanoscale materials for different applications necessitates that they are easy to obtain and have excellent physical properties and low toxicity. Moreover, considering the ongoing environmental impact of noxious chemical waste products, it is important to adopt eco-friendly approaches for nanoparticle synthesis. In this work, a natural polymer (medium molecular weight chitosan) derived from chitin was employed as a reducing agent to obtain gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) with a chitosan shell (AuNPs@CS) by a microwave oven. The chitosan is economically viable and cost-competitive in the market showing also nontoxic behavior in the environment and living organisms. The synthesized AuNPs@CS-FITC NPs were fully characterized by spectroscopic and microscopic characterization techniques. The size distribution of NPs was about 15 nm, which is a suitable dimension to use in biomedical applications due to their high tissue penetration, great circulation in blood, and optimal clearance as well as low toxicity. The prepared polymer-capped NPs were further functionalized with a fluorescent molecule, i.e., Fluorescein-5-isothiocyanate (FITC), to perform imaging in the cell. The results highlighted the goodness of the synthesis procedure, as well as the high internalization rate that resulted in an optimal fluorescence intensity. Thus, this work presents a good sustainable/green approach-mediated polymer nanocomposite for various applications in the field of diagnostic imaging