Conserving Iowa\u27s Prehistoric Heritage

A hundred years of farming and relic hunting has destroyed much of Iowa\u27s archeological resources. An active program of research is currently underway at the State University of Iowa in order to preserve these prehistoric remains before they are entirely lost. It will require a strenuous effort to salvage enough information to piece together the ten thousand years of Iowa\u27s past. Current research emphasis is upon publishing reports and organizing the results of previous work throughout the state. After this phase of the program is completed a series of excavations will be made in different parts of the state to fill the gaps of the scientific record

G2Cdb: the Genes to Cognition database

Neuroscience databases linking genes, proteins, (patho)physiology, anatomy and behaviour across species will be valuable in a broad range of studies of the nervous system. G2Cdb is such a neuroscience database aiming to present a global view of the role of synapse proteins in physiology and disease. G2Cdb warehouses sets of genes and proteins experimentally elucidated by proteomic mass spectroscopy of signalling complexes and proteins biochemically isolated from mammalian synapse preparations, giving an experimentally validated definition of the constituents of the mammalian synapse. Using automated text-mining and expert (human) curation we have systematically extracted information from published neurobiological studies in the fields of synaptic signalling electrophysiology and behaviour in knockout and other transgenic mice. We have also surveyed the human genetics literature for associations to disease caused by mutations in synaptic genes. The synapse proteome datasets that G2Cdb provides offer a basis for future work in synapse biology and provide useful information on brain diseases. They have been integrated in a such way that investigators can rapidly query whether a gene or protein is found in brain-signalling complex(es), has a phenotype in rodent models or whether mutations are associated with a human disease. G2Cdb can be freely accessed at http://www.genes2cognition.org

Milk yield estimation during suckling using the double oxytocin injection-milking and the double weighing-suckling methods in dairy goats

The aim was to verify the validity of the double oxytocin-milking (DOT) method as milk yield estimator during the suckling period of lactating dairy goats. To this end, it was necessary to determine whether the weighing suckling weighing (WSW) and DOT methods of milk yield estimation satisfied the criteria to be considered valuable, the accuracy between both methods and the suitability of DOT to evaluate actual milk. At parturition, sixty lactating Murciano Granadina breed goats were separated into 2 groups, in mixed (MS; n = 24) and artificial rearing (ARS; n = 36) management systems. Until the sixth week of lactation (weaning), MS goats suckled one kid while kids from ARS goats were artificially reared; moreover, goats in both systems were submitted to once-a-day milking. Once per week, actual milk yield for ARS goats and potential milk yield were recorded using DOT method for all goats, except for 12 goats in ARS which remained as a control. Twelve goats from each management system were used to evaluate diurnal variation in milk production (DVM) by DOT method for 6 consecutive days in week 4 of lactation. No difference in DVM was found by DOT method in 4-h milk production of goats in MS (P = 0.099) or ARS (P = 0.220), which allowed sixfold multiplication of milked milk volume to obtain potential milk per day. ARS goats subjected to a weekly DOT and control group goats showed a similar (P = 0.379) lactation curve for the first 6 weeks of lactation. The DOT method slightly overestimated (3.4%, P = 0.005) the milk yield evaluated by WSW method for goats under an MS, but fitted the actual milk obtained by common milk records for the group of goats in an ARS submitted to the DVM test (P = 0.357) and the group in ARS alone (P = 0.163). The DOT method applied for 8 consecutive days led to a drop of 6 12% in milk yield during the following week for both production systems. In conclusion, DOT was an accurate method to estimate milk yield during the first weeks of lactation both in MS and ARS under the conditions of this experiment. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Fernández Martínez, N.; Balasch Parisi, S.; Pérez Baena, I.; Rodríguez Garcia, M.; Peris Ribera, CJ. (2013). Milk yield estimation during suckling using the double oxytocin injection-milking and the double weighing-suckling methods in dairy goats. Small Ruminant Research. 112(1-3):181-185. doi:10.1016/j.smallrumres.2012.12.023S1811851121-