Geological and Paleontological Survey of the Forney Reservoir Basin, Kaufman and Rockwall Counties, Texas

The field work for this report was done during June, July, and August, 1964, by the Shuler Museum of Paleontology of Southern Methodist University under National Park Service Contract No. RO 330608. The Quaternary deposits of the East Fork of the Trinity River were mapped in the area of the basin of the proposed Forney Reservoir and the general patterns of bedrock geology outlined. All excavational and erosional exposures of terrace, floodplain, and bedrock deposits were prospected for molluscan and vertebrate fossils. Three terraces above the present floodplain are recognized

Geological and Paleontological Survey of the Bardwell Reservoir Basin, Ellis County, Texas

During June, July, and August, 1964, the Shuler Museum of Paleontology of Southern Methodist University made a survey of that portion of Waxahachie Creek that is to be flooded by the construction of the Bardwell Dam. The work was done under the sponsorship of the National Park Service (Southwest Region). The Quaternary deposits of Waxahachie Creek were mapped in detail and the bedrock geology outlined in general units. Extensive prospecting of all erosional and excavational exposures was carried out for the purpose of recovering both Cretaceous and Quaternary vertebrate and molluscan fossils. Two terraces were recognized above the present floodplain; the higher and older of the two contained identifiable remains of a mammoth and an excellent molluscan fauna. Fossils recovered from the Cretaceous bedrock include a fairly complete lower jaw of a marine reptile (mosasaur) and specimens of one teolost and at least six species of elasmobranch fishes. A new genus and species of ganopristid sawfish is also included

Osmotic pressure of extended bovine semen during storage

Report by Departments of Animal Husbandry and Agricultural Chemistry on Research Project No. 38 entitled 'Physiology of Reproduction'--p. [2].This report includes most of the material in a dissertation presented by J.T. Smith for the M.S. degree"--P. [3].Digitized 2007 AES.Includes bibliographical references (pages 19-20)

Chemistry courses as the turning point for premedical students

Previous research has documented that negative experiences in chemistry courses are a major factor that discourages many students from continuing in premedical studies. This adverse impact affects women and students from under-represented minority (URM) groups disproportionately. To determine if chemistry courses have a similar effect at a large public university, we surveyed 1,036 students from three entering cohorts at the University of California, Berkeley. We surveyed students at the beginning of their first year at the university and again at the end of their second year. All subjects had indicated an interest in premedical studies at the time they entered the university. We conducted follow-up interviews with a stratified sub-set of 63 survey respondents to explore the factors that affected their level of interest in premedical studies. Using a 10-point scale, we found that the strength of interest in premedical studies declined for all racial/ethnic groups. In the follow-up interviews, students identified chemistry courses as the principal factor contributing to their reported loss of interest. URM students especially often stated that chemistry courses caused them to abandon their hopes of becoming a physician. Consistent with reports over more than 50 years, it appears that undergraduate courses in chemistry have the effect of discouraging otherwise qualified students, as reflected in their admission to one of the most highly selective public universities in the US, from continuing in premedical studies, especially in the case of URM students. Reassessment of this role for chemistry courses may be overdue

The Evolution of Extracellular Fibrillins and Their Functional Domains

Fibrillins constitute the major backbone of multifunctional microfibrils in elastic and non-elastic extracellular matrices, and are known to interact with several binding partners including tropoelastin and integrins. Here, we study the evolution of fibrillin proteins. Following sequence collection from 39 organisms representative of the major evolutionary groups, molecular evolutionary genetics and phylogeny inference software were used to generate a series of evolutionary trees using distance-based and maximum likelihood methods. The resulting trees support the concept of gene duplication as a means of generating the three vertebrate fibrillins. Beginning with a single fibrillin sequence found in invertebrates and jawless fish, a gene duplication event, which coincides with the appearance of elastin, led to the creation of two genes. One of the genes significantly evolved to become the gene for present-day fibrillin-1, while the other underwent evolutionary changes, including a second duplication, to produce present-day fibrillin-2 and fibrillin-3. Detailed analysis of several sequences and domains within the fibrillins reveals distinct similarities and differences across various species. The RGD integrin-binding site in TB4 of all fibrillins is conserved in cephalochordates and vertebrates, while the integrin-binding site within cbEGF18 of fibrillin-3 is a recent evolutionary change. The proline-rich domain in fibrillin-1, glycine-rich domain in fibrillin-2 and proline-/glycine-rich domain in fibrillin-3 are found in all analyzed tetrapod species, whereas it is completely replaced with an EGF-like domain in cnidarians, arthropods, molluscs and urochordates. All collected sequences contain the first 9-cysteine hybrid domain, and the second 8-cysteine hybrid domain with exception of arthropods containing an atypical 10-cysteine hybrid domain 2. Furin cleavage sites within the N- and C-terminal unique domains were found for all analyzed fibrillin sequences, indicating an essential role for processing of the fibrillin pro-proteins. The four cysteines in the unique N-terminus and the two cysteines in the unique C-terminus are also highly conserved

What is the global economic impact of Neospora caninum in cattle - the billion dollar question

Neospora caninum is regarded as one of the most important infectious causes of abortions in cattle worldwide, yet the global economic impact of the infection has not been established. A systematic review of the economic impact of N. caninum infections/abortions was conducted, searching PubMed with the terms ‘cattle’ and ‘Neospora’. This yielded 769 publications and the abstracts were screened for economically relevant information (e.g. abortion prevalence and risk, serological prevalence). Further analysis was restricted to countries with at least five relevant publications. In total, 99 studies (12.9%) from 10 countries contained data from the beef industry (25 papers (25.3%)) and 72 papers (72.8%) from the dairy industry (with the remaining two papers (2.0%) describing general abortion statistics). The total annual cost of N. caninum infections/abortions was estimated to range from a median US $1.1 million in the New Zealand beef industry to an estimated median total of US$546.3 million impact per annum in the US dairy population. The estimate for the total median N. caninum-related losses exceeded US $1.298 billion per annum, ranging as high as US$2.380 billion. Nearly two-thirds of the losses were incurred by the dairy industry (US $842.9 million). Annual losses on individual dairy farms were estimated to reach a median of US$1,600.00, while on beef farms these costs amounted to just US $150.00. Pregnant cows and heifers were estimated to incur, on average, a loss due to N. caninum of less than US$20.00 for dairy and less than US $5.00 for beef. These loss estimates, however, rose to ∼US$110.00 and US $40.00, respectively, for N. caninum-infected pregnant dairy and beef cows. This estimate of global losses due to N. caninum, with the identification of clear target markets (countries, as well as cattle industries), should provide an incentive to develop treatment options and/or vaccines.Michael P. Reichel, M. Alejandra Ayanegui-Alcérreca, Luís F.P. Gondim, John T. Elli

Geological and Paleontological Survey of the Forney Reservoir Basin, Kaufman and Rockwall Counties, Texas

The field work for this report was done during June, July, and August, 1964, by the Shuler Museum of Paleontology of Southern Methodist University under National Park Service Contract No. RO 330608. The Quaternary deposits of the East Fork of the Trinity River were mapped in the area of the basin of the proposed Forney Reservoir and the general patterns of bedrock geology outlined. All excavational and erosional exposures of terrace, floodplain, and bedrock deposits were prospected for molluscan and vertebrate fossils. Three terraces above the present floodplain are recognized

Geological and Paleontological Survey of the Bardwell Reservoir Basin, Ellis County, Texas

During June, July, and August, 1964, the Shuler Museum of Paleontology of Southern Methodist University made a survey of that portion of Waxahachie Creek that is to be flooded by the construction of the Bardwell Dam. The work was done under the sponsorship of the National Park Service (Southwest Region). The Quaternary deposits of Waxahachie Creek were mapped in detail and the bedrock geology outlined in general units. Extensive prospecting of all erosional and excavational exposures was carried out for the purpose of recovering both Cretaceous and Quaternary vertebrate and molluscan fossils. Two terraces were recognized above the present floodplain; the higher and older of the two contained identifiable remains of a mammoth and an excellent molluscan fauna. Fossils recovered from the Cretaceous bedrock include a fairly complete lower jaw of a marine reptile (mosasaur) and specimens of one teolost and at least six species of elasmobranch fishes. A new genus and species of ganopristid sawfish is also included