Valuing Fed Cattle Using Objective Tenderness Measures

Beef tenderness is critical in consumer satisfaction with beef steak products. Current fed cattle valuation systems do not differentiate carcasses based upon tenderness variation. However, considerable research indicates consumers are willing to pay more for tender relative to tough beef steak. This article develops a tenderness-augmentation to current fed cattle grid pricing systems. Using a large set of actual carcasses, we determine that a tenderness-augmented price grid would reorder fed cattle value by on average nearly $5.00/cwt dressed relative to current valuation methods. Substantial opportunity is present to improve beef tenderness through new price signals to producers.beef quality, meat tenderness, cattle value, cattle price, Agribusiness, Farm Management, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Livestock Production/Industries, Q11, Q13, M31,

Fas Regulates Macrophage Polarization and Fibrogenic Phenotype in a Model of Chronic Ethanol-Induced Hepatocellular Injury

The role of Fas-mediated apoptosis and its effect on proinflammatory cytokine production in early alcoholic liver disease has not been addressed. Wild-type mice (C57Bl/6) or mice with a functional mutation in the Fas ligand (B6

Sweating the small stuff: simulating dwarf galaxies, ultra-faint dwarf galaxies, and their own tiny satellites

We present FIRE/Gizmo hydrodynamic zoom-in simulations of isolated dark matter halos, two each at the mass of classical dwarf galaxies ($M_{\rm vir} \simeq 10^{10} M_{\odot}$) and ultra-faint galaxies ($M_{\rm vir} \simeq 10^9 M_{\odot}$), and with two feedback implementations. The resultant central galaxies lie on an extrapolated abundance matching relation from $M_{\star} \simeq 10^6$ to $10^4 M_{\odot}$ without a break. Every host is filled with subhalos, many of which form stars. Our dwarfs with $M_{\star} \simeq 10^6 M_{\odot}$ each have 1-2 well-resolved satellites with $M_{\star} = 3-200 \times 10^3 M_{\odot}$. Even our isolated ultra-faint galaxies have star-forming subhalos. If this is representative, dwarf galaxies throughout the universe should commonly host tiny satellite galaxies of their own. We combine our results with the ELVIS simulations to show that targeting $\sim 50~ \rm kpc$ regions around nearby isolated dwarfs could increase the chances of discovering ultra-faint galaxies by $\sim 35\%$ compared to random halo pointings, and specifically identify the region around the Phoenix dwarf galaxy as a good potential target. The well-resolved ultra-faint galaxies in our simulations ($M_{\star} \simeq 3 - 30 \times 10^3 M_{\odot}$) form within $M_{\rm peak} \simeq 0.5 - 3 \times 10^9 M_{\odot}$ halos. Each has a uniformly ancient stellar population ($> 10~ \rm Gyr$) owing to reionization-related quenching. More massive systems, in contrast, all have late-time star formation. Our results suggest that $M_{\rm halo} \simeq 5 \times 10^9 M_{\odot}$ is a probable dividing line between halos hosting reionization "fossils" and those hosting dwarfs that can continue to form stars in isolation after reionization.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, 1 table, submitted to MNRA

Oxidation chemistry of d^0 organometallic complexes

Electron-transfer processes can play an important role in organometallic chemistry. Herein, we demonstrate that even d^0 organometallic complexes exhibit a rich redox chemistry and present electrochemical, kinetics, and stereochemical studies that establish a general outer-sphere oxidation process for d^0 group 4 metallocene complexes. This oxidation chemistry closely parallels the reported LMCT photochemistry of these complexes

In search of clarity about parity

First paragraph: Andy Clark's Supersizing the Mind: Embodiment, Action, and Cognitive Extension (Clark 2008) is, among other things, a characteristically bold and timely defence of the extended mind hypothesis (Clark and Chalmers 1998). According to this hypothesis, which Clark here calls EXTENDED, the physical mechanisms of mind (the material vehicles that realize cognition) sometimes extend beyond the traditional boundaries of skull and skin, such that "actions and loops through nonbiological structure [sometimes count] as genuine aspects of extended cognitive processes" (p. 85). In the brief treatment that follows I cannot hope to engage with everything that is worthy of discussion in Clark's rich and exciting text, so I shall content myself with exploring and assessing a central thread in his argument for EXTENDED. That thread revolves around what is called the parity principle. Here is how that principle is formulated in Supersizing the Mind (p. 77, drawing on Clark and Chalmers 1998, p. 8): If, as we confront some task, a part of the world functions as a process which, were it to go on in the head, we would have no hesitation in accepting as part of the cognitive process, then that part of the world is (for that time) part of the cognitive process. The general idea is this: if there is functional equality with respect to governing intelligent behaviour (for example, in the way stored information is poised to guide such behaviour), between the causal contribution of certain internal elements and the causal contribution of certain external elements, and if the internal elements concerned already qualify as the proper parts of a cognitive trait (system, state, process, mechanism, architecture...), then there is no good reason to deny equivalent status to the relevant external elements. Parity of causal contribution mandates parity of status with respect to the cognitive

Up-regulation of CD14 in Liver Caused by Acute Ethanol Involves Oxidant-dependent AP-1 Pathway

Ethanol is known to cause both tolerance and sensitization to endotoxin (lipopolysaccharide). It is also known that ethanol modulates the expression and activity of several intracellular signaling molecules and transcription factors in monocytes and Kupffer cells, the resident hepatic macrophages. Expression of CD14, the endotoxin receptor, is up-regulated following chronic exposure to endotoxin and ethanol. Ethanol-induced oxidative stress is important in the regulation of transcription factor activation and cytokine production by Kupffer cells. Thus, it was hypothesized that acute ethanol increases CD14 expression through a mechanism dependent upon oxidant production. This hypothesis was tested by overexpression of superoxide dismutase via recombinant adenovirus. Mice were infected with adenovirus (3 x 10(9) plaque-forming units, intravenously) containing either Cu,Zn superoxide dismutase (Ad.SOD1) or beta-galactosidase (Ad.lacZ), which caused significant expression of Cu,Zn-SOD in hepatocytes and Kupffer cells. Three days post-infection, mice were given saline or ethanol (5 g/kg, intragastrically). A significant increase in CD14 mRNA was observed 3 h after ethanol, and this increase was almost completely blocked in mice overexpressing Cu,Zn-SOD. Additionally, overexpression of SOD also blunted ethanol-induced activation of redox-sensitive transcription factors NFkappaB and AP-1 and production of cytokines. However, only inhibition of AP-1 with dominant-negative TAK1 but not NFkappaB by dominant-negative IkappaBalpha significantly blunted ethanol-induced increases in CD14, suggesting that AP-1 is important for CD14 transcriptional regulation. It is also shown here that NADPH oxidase is important in the increase in CD14 due to ethanol. Moreover, these data suggest that acute ethanol causes sensitization to endotoxin through mechanisms dependent upon oxidative stress

Electrochemiluminescence on digital microfluidics for microRNA analysis

Electrochemiluminescence (ECL) is a sensitive analytical technique with great promise for biological applications, especially when combined with microfluidics. Here, we report the first integration of ECL with digital microfluidics (DMF). ECL detectors were fabricated into the ITO-coated top plates of DMF devices, allowing for the generation of light from electrically excited luminophores in sample droplets. The new system was characterized by making electrochemical and ECL measurements of soluble mixtures of tris(phenanthroline)ruthenium(II) and tripropylamine (TPA) solutions. The system was then validated by application to an oligonucleotide hybridization assay, using magnetic particles bearing 21-mer, deoxyribose analogues of the complement to microRNA-143 (miRNA-143). The system detects single nucleotide mismatches with high specificity, and has a limit of detection of 1.5 femtomoles. The system is capable of detecting miRNA-143 in cancer cell lysates, allowing for the discrimination between the MCF-7 (less aggressive) and MDA-MB-231 (more aggressive) cell lines. We propose that DMF-ECL represents a valuable new tool in the microfluidics toolbox for a wide variety of applications