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,

What Happens to bone health during and after spaceflight?

Weightless conditions of space flight accelerate bone loss. There are no reports to date that address whether the bone that is lost during spaceflight could ever be recovered. Spaceinduced bone loss in astronauts is evaluated at the Johnson Space Center (JSC) by measurement of bone mineral density (BMD) by Dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scans. Astronauts are routinely scanned preflight and at various time points postflight (greater than or equal to Return+2 days). Two sets of BMD data were used to model spaceflight-induced loss and skeletal recovery in crewmembers following long-duration spaceflight missions (4-6 months). Group I was from astronauts (n=7) who were systematically scanned at multiple time points during the postflight period as part of a research protocol to investigate skeletal recovery. Group II came from a total of 49 sets of preflight and postflight data obtained by different protocols. These data were from 39 different crewmembers some of whom served on multiple flights. Changes in BMD (between pre- and postflight BMD) were plotted as a function of time (days-after-landing); plotted data were fitted to an exponential equation which enabled estimations of i) BMD change at day 0 after landing and ii) the number of days by which 50% of the lost bone is recovered (half-life). These fits were performed for BMD of the lumbar spine, trochanter, pelvis, femoral neck and calcaneus. There was consistency between the models for BMD recovery. Based upon the exponential model of BMD restoration, recovery following long-duration missions appears to be substantially complete in crewmembers within 36 months following return to Earth

Skeletal Recovery Following Long-Duration Spaceflight Missions as Determined by Preflight and Postflight DXA Scans of 45 Crew Members

Introduction: The loss of bone mineral in astronauts during spaceflight has been investigated throughout the more than 40 years of bone research in space. Consequently, it is a medical requirement at NASA that changes in bone mass be monitored in crew members by measurements of bone mineral density (BMD) with dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA). This report is the first to evaluate medical data to address the recovery of bone mineral that is lost during spaceflight. Methods: DXA scans are performed before and after flight in astronauts who serve on long-duration missions (4-6 months) to ensure that medical standards for flight certification are met, to evaluate the effects of spaceflight and to monitor the restoration to preflight BMD status after return to Earth. Through cooperative agreements with the Russian Space Agency, the Bone and Mineral Lab at NASA Johnson Space Center (Houston, TX), also had access to BMD data from cosmonauts who had flown on long-duration missions yielding data from a total of 45 individual crew members. Changes in BMD (between 56 different sets of pre- and postflight measurements) were plotted as a function of time (days after landing); plotted data were fitted to an exponential mathematical model that determined i) BMD change at day 0 after landing and ii) the number of days after which 50% of the lost bone was recovered ("Recovery Half-Life"). These fits were performed for BMD of the lumbar spine, trochanter, pelvis, femoral neck and calcaneus. Results: In sum, averaged losses of bone mineral after spaceflight ranged between 2-9% for sites in the axial and appendicular skeleton. The fitted postflight BMD values predicted a 50% recovery of bone loss for all sites within 9 months

Adaptation of the Skeletal System during Long-duration Spaceflight

This review will highlight evidence from crew members flown on space missions greater than 90 days to suggest that the adaptations of the skeletal system to mechanical unloading may predispose crew members to an accelerated onset of osteoporosis after return to Earth. By definition, osteoporosis is a skeletal disorder - characterized by low bone mineral density and structural deterioration - that reduces the ability of bones to resist fracture under the loading of normal daily activities. Involutional or agerelated osteoporosis is readily recognized as a syndrome afflicting the elderly population because of the insipid and asymptomatic nature of bone loss that does not typically manifest as fractures until after age approximately 60. It is not the thesis of this review to suggest that spaceflight-induced bone loss is similar to bone loss induced by metabolic bone disease; rather this review draws parallels between the rapid and earlier loss in females that occurs with menopause and the rapid bone loss in middle-aged crew members that occurs with spaceflight unloading and how the cumulative effects of spaceflight and ageing could be detrimental, particularly if skeletal effects are totally or partially irreversible. In brief, this report will provide detailed evidence that long-duration crew members, exposed to the weightlessness of space for the typical long-duration (4-6 months) mission on Mir or the International Space Station -- 1. Display bone resorption that is aggressive, that targets normally weight-bearing skeletal sites, that is uncoupled to bone formation and that results in areal BMD deficits that can range between 6-20% of preflight BMD; 2. Display compartment-specific declines in volumetric BMD in the proximal femur (a skeletal site of clinical interest) that significantly reduces its compressive and bending strength and which may account for the loss in hip bone strength (i.e., force to failure); 3. Recover BMD over a post-flight time period that exceeds spaceflight exposure but for which the restoration of whole bone strength remains an open issue and may involve structural alteration; and 4. Display risk factors for bone loss -- such as the negative calcium balance and down-regulated calcium-regulating hormones in response to bone atrophy -- that can be compounded by the constraints of conducting mission operations (inability to provide essential nutrients and vitamins). The full characterization of the skeletal response to mechanical unloading in space is not complete. In particular, countermeasures used to date have been inadequate and it is not yet known whether more appropriate countermeasures can prevent the changes in bone that have been found in previous flights, knowledge gaps related to the effects of prolonged (greater than or equal to 6 months) space exposure and to partial gravity environments are substantial, and longitudinal measurements on crew members after spaceflight are required to assess the full impact on skeletal recovery

Alendronate as an Effective Countermeasure to Disuse Induced Bone loss

Microgravity, similar to diuse immobilization on earth, causes rapid bone loss. This loss is believed to be an adaptive response to the reduced musculoskelatal forces in space and occurs gradually enough that changes occurring during short duration space flight are not a concern. Bone loss, however, will be a major impediment for long duration missions if effective countermeasures are not developed and implemented. Bed rest is used to simulate the reduced mechanical forces in humans and was used to test the hypothesis that oral alendronate would reduce the effects of long duration (17 weeks) inactivity on bone. Eight male subjects were given daily oral doses of alendronate during 17 weeks of horizontal bed rest and compared with 13 male control subjects not given the drug. Efficacy was evaluated based on measurements of bone markers, calcium balance and bone density performed before, during and after the bed rest. The results show that oral alendronate attenuates most of the characteristic changes associated with long duration bed rest and presumably space flight

The Application of Nuclear Techniques to the Measurement of Moisture and Density of Highway Construction Materials

In recent years much attention has been directed toward the application of neutron and gamma ray techniques to soil moisture and density measurements. This application of radiological measurements of these characteristics of materials of highway construction, of course, is of great interest to the highway industry since the performance of the total pavement system is highly dependent upon the condition of the embankment, subgrade, and base components of this system. An important measure of the state of condition of unconsolidated earth materials is their unit weights and moisture contents. The highway engineer undoubtedly would welcome any method or technique which would provide more rapidly and easily this essential information that may be used in the control of the construction of the embankment, subgrade, and base. The application of the neutron and gamma ray techniques to this purpose appears to offer some promise for the engineer and thus is worthy of his consideration

Interim Report on Rural Secondary, Base Stabilization Projects

Early in 1962, the Division of Rural Highways selected several base stabilization projects for construction during the 1962 season. These projects were to involve the addition of 1-1/2 to 3 inches of compacted granular base to existing, rural secondary, traffic-bound macadam roads. Since these roads were not intended to be surfaced, calcium chloride and sodium chloride were to be added to the additional granular base material in an attempt to retain or hold the aggregate on the road. This treatment was in tended to improve the road and to build up the base over a period of a few years until the road could be surfaced. The Division of Research was requested to observe the construction and performance of these projects and to evaluate the effectiveness of calcium or sodium chloride in this type of stage construction. Accordingly, eight projects totaling 40.111 miles were selected for observation. These projects included three (12.434 miles) in which calcium chloride was used, three (11.200 miles) in which sodium chloride was used, and two (16.477 miles) in which no additive was used. Two additional projects involving similar types of construction are also reported. The Garrard County project was completed however, much of this base material is scattered or washed into the ditches or is pulverized and blown away. This results in an inadequate base when the wearing course is eventually constructed

Recovery of Spaceflight-induced Bone Loss: Bone Mineral Density after Long-Duration Missions as Fitted with an Exponential Function

The loss of bone mineral in NASA astronauts during spaceflight has been investigated throughout the more than 40 years of space travel. Consequently, it is a medical requirement at NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) that changes in bone mass be monitored in crew members by measuring bone mineral density (BMD) with dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) before and after flight on astronauts who serve on long-duration missions (4-6 months). We evaluated this repository of medical data to track whether there is recovery of bone mineral that was lost during spaceflight. Our analysis was supplemented by BMD data from cosmonauts ( by convention, a space traveler formally employed by the Russia Aviation and Space Agency or by the previous Soviet Union) who had also flown on long-duration missions. Data from a total of 45 individual crew members -- a small number of whom flew on more than one mission -- were used in this analysis. Changes in BMD (between 56 different sets of pre- and postflight measurements) were plotted as a function of time (days after landing). Plotted BMD changes were fitted to an exponential mathematical function that estimated: i) BMD change on landing day (day 0) and ii) the number of days after landing when 50% of the lost bone would be recovered ("50% recovery time") in the lumbar spine, trochanter, pelvis, femoral neck and calcaneus. In sum, averaged losses of bone mineral after long-duration spaceflight ranged between 2-9% across all sites with our recovery model predicting a 50% restoration of bone loss for all sites to be within 9 months

Meta-analysis of genome-wide association from genomic prediction models

Genome-wide association (GWA) studies based on GBLUP models are a common practice in animal breeding. However, effect sizes of GWA tests are small, requiring larger sample sizes to enhance power of detection of rare variants. Because of difficulties in increasing sample size in animal populations, one alternative is to implement a meta-analysis (MA), combining information and results from independent GWA studies. Although this methodology has been used widely in human genetics, implementation in animal breeding has been limited. Thus, we present methods to implement a MA of GWA, describing the proper approach to compute weights derived from multiple genomic evaluations based on animal-centric GBLUP models. Application to real datasets shows that MA increases power of detection of associations in comparison with population-level GWA, allowing for population structure and heterogeneity of variance components across populations to be accounted for. Another advantage of MA is that it does not require access to genotype data that is required for a joint analysis. Scripts related to the implementation of this approach, which consider the strength of association as well as the sign, are distributed and thus account for heterogeneity in association phase between QTL and SNPs. Thus, MA of GWA is an attractive alternative to summarizing results from multiple genomic studies, avoiding restrictions with genotype data sharing, definition of fixed effects and different scales of measurement of evaluated traits.Fil: Bernal Rubio, Yeni Liliana. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomia. Departamento de Producción Animal; Argentina. Michigan State University; Estados Unidos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Gualdron Duarte, Jose Luis. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomia. Departamento de Producción Animal; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Bates, R. O.. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomia. Departamento de Producción Animal; ArgentinaFil: Ernst, C. W.. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomia. Departamento de Producción Animal; ArgentinaFil: Nonneman, D.. United States Department of Agriculture. Agricultural Research Service; Estados UnidosFil: Rohrer, G. A.. United States Department of Agriculture. Agricultural Research Service; Estados UnidosFil: King, A.. United States Department of Agriculture. Agricultural Research Service; Estados UnidosFil: Shackelford, S. D.. United States Department of Agriculture. Agricultural Research Service; Estados UnidosFil: Wheeler, T. L.. United States Department of Agriculture. Agricultural Research Service; Estados UnidosFil: Cantet, Rodolfo Juan Carlos. Michigan State University; Estados Unidos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Steibel, J. P.. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomia. Departamento de Producción Animal; Argentina. Michigan State University; Estados Unido

Perpetrating Cyber Dating Abuse: A Brief Report on the Role of Aggression, Romantic Jealousy and Gender

There is increasing evidence that the use of elec-tronic communication technology (ECT) is being integrated into romantic relationships, which can be used as a medium to control a romantic partner. Most research focuses on the vic-tims of cyber dating abuse, however, we focused on the factors that predict perpetration of cyber dating abuse. We explored whether aggression (verbal aggression, physical aggression, anger and hostility), romantic jealousy (emotional, cognitive and behavioral jealousy), and gender predicted perpetration of cyber dating abuse (n = 189). We found that hostility, behav-ioral jealousy and gender significantly predicted perpetration of cyber dating abuse. The findings of this study contribute to our understanding of the psychological factors that drive cyber dating abuse in romantic relationships