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,

Complete Genome Sequences of Three Staphylococcus pseudintermedius Strains Isolated from Botswana

We report here the first whole-genome sequences for 3 strains of Staphylococcus pseudintermedius (112N, 113N, and 114N) isolated in Africa. Samples of this opportunistic pathogen were collected from nasal swabs obtained from healthy carrier dogs in Botswana. The sequence information will facilitate spatial phylogenetic comparisons of staphylococcal species and other bacteria at the genome level

Increasing Thiamine Concentrations in Lake Trout Eggs from Lakes Huron and Michigan Coincide with Low Alewife Abundance

Lake trout Salvelinus namaycush in the Laurentian Great Lakes suffer from thiamine deficiency as a result of adult lake trout consuming prey containing thiaminase, a thiamine-degrading enzyme. Sufficiently low egg thiamine concentrations result in direct mortality of or sublethal effects on newly hatched lake trout fry. To determine the prevalence and severity of low thiamine in lake trout eggs, we monitored thiamine concentrations in lake trout eggs from 15 sites in Lakes Huron and Michigan from 2001 to 2009. Lake trout egg thiamine concentrations at most sites in both lakes were initially low and increased over time at 11 of 15 sites, and the proportion of females with egg thiamine concentrations lower than the recommended management objective of 4 nmol/g decreased over time at eight sites. Egg thiamine concentrations at five of six sites in Lakes Huron and Michigan were significantly inversely related to site-specific estimates of mean abundance of alewives Alosa pseudoharengus, and successful natural reproduction of lake trout has been observed in Lake Huron since the alewife population crashed. These results support the hypothesis that low egg thiamine in Great Lakes lake trout is associated with increased alewife abundance and that low alewife abundance may currently be a prerequisite for successful reproduction by lake trout in the Great Lakes

Complete Genome Sequence of Staphylococcus pseudintermedius Type Strain LMG 22219

We report the first complete genome sequence of LMG 22219 (=ON 86T = CCUG 49543T), the Staphylococcus pseudintermedius type strain isolated from feline lung tissue. This sequence information will facilitate phylogenetic comparisons of staphylococcal species and other bacteria at the genome level

Comparative Recruitment Dynamics of Alewife and Bloater in Lakes Michigan and Huron

The predictive power of recruitment models often relies on the identification and quantification of external variables, in addition to stock size. In theory, the identification of climatic, biotic, or demographic influences on reproductive success assists fisheries management by identifying factors that have a direct and reproducible influence on the population dynamics of a target species. More often, models are constructed as one‐time studies of a single population whose results are not revisited when further data become available. Here, we present results from stock recruitment models for Alewife Alosa pseudoharengus and Bloater Coregonus hoyi in Lakes Michigan and Huron. The factors that explain variation in Bloater recruitment were remarkably consistent across populations and with previous studies that found Bloater recruitment to be linked to population demographic patterns in Lake Michigan. Conversely, our models were poor predictors of Alewife recruitment in Lake Huron but did show some agreement with previously published models from Lake Michigan. Overall, our results suggest that external predictors of fish recruitment are difficult to discern using traditional fisheries models, and reproducing the results from previous studies may be difficult particularly at low population sizes.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/141414/1/tafs0294.pd

Medical student attitudes to mental health and psychiatry: the use of a patient-experience short film

Background: Medical student attitudes to mental illness are significantly influenced by their undergraduate educational experience. Medical education therefore has a key role to play in challenging the stigma associated with mental illness. We developed a short educational film aimed at challenging stigmatising attitudes to mental illness and explored its effects on undergraduate medical student attitudes. We hypothesised that levels of stigmatising attitudes in medical students would reduce after students viewed the educational film. Method: We used a validated scale (Mental Illness: Clinician Attitudes, MICA) to examine undergraduate medical student attitudes to mental illness at two time points - prior to (T1) and following (T2) viewing the short film. The film focused on patient experiences and was designed to highlight personal experiences of mental illness. Results: 92 students completed the MICA before the film and 73 students at both time points. Having a personal history of mental illness was associated with less stigmatising attitudes (t=2.4, df=87, p=0.019). Stigma scores were reduced following the film viewing (t=7.101, df=72, p<0.001). Discussion: This study suggests that patient experience films, used as educational tools, can challenge student perceptions of mental illness and lead to a reduction in stigmatising attitudes, at least in the short term. Future studies are required to examine the longer-term effects of such educational interventions in terms of student perceptions and attitudes towards mental health and psychiatry

Development of Items Designed to Evaluate Activity Performance and Participation in Children and Adolescents with Spinal Cord Injury

Background/Objective. Outcomes-based data, whether used clinically or for research, are difficult to collect in the pediatric spinal cord injury (SCI) population due to a lack of appropriate assessment measures. The purpose of this paper is twofold: to describe the process by which two item pools were developed to evaluate activity performance and participation among children with SCI and to introduce the resultant items specific to pediatric SCI. Methods. The process of item development, including construct development, review of related assessment tools, chart review, item writing and refinement using focus groups, cognitive interviews, and further refinement, was used to create the items pools for activity and participation for children and adolescents with SCI. Results. A total of 347 items were written for the activity performance construct and 61 items were written for the participation construct. Several domains were established within each construct and items were written for both child and parent respondents. Conclusion. The process of detailed item development is the first step in the process of developing an outcomes instrument for children and adolescents with SCI to assess activity performance and participation. The items are representative of pediatric SCI because they address areas specific to children and adolescents with SCI such as wheeled mobility, upper extremity function with adaptive equipment, role performance, and socialization. After testing these items in calibration studies, we will determine if these items can be developed into effective computer-adaptive testing applications

Ac/Ds transposition for CRISPR/dCas9-SID4x epigenome modulation in zebrafish

Due to its genetic amenability coupled with advances in genome editing, zebrafish is an excellent model to examine the function of (epi)genomic elements. Here, we repurposed the Ac/Ds maize transposition system to efficiently characterise zebrafish cis-regulated elements, also known as enhancers, in F0-microinjected embryos. We further used the system to stably express guide RNAs enabling CRISPR/dCas9-interference (CRISPRi) perturbation of enhancers without disrupting the underlying genetic sequence. In addition, we probed the phenomenon of antisense transcription at two neural crest gene loci. Our study highlights the utility of Ac/Ds transposition as a new tool for transient epigenome modulation in zebrafish

Growth, survival, and habitat use of naturally reared and hatchery steelhead fry in streams: effects of an enriched hatchery rearing environment

After hatchery-reared salmonids are released into the wild, their survival and performance are frequently lower than those of wild conspecifics. Additionally, negative effects of hatchery fish on wild fish are cited as factors affecting the recovery of salmonid populations. Alternative hatchery rearing environments and release practices have been proposed to mitigate both problems. We investigated the postrelease growth, survival, habitat use, and spatial distribution of hatchery steelhead Oncorhynchus mykiss fry reared in conventional and enriched environments and compared their performance with that of naturally reared steelhead fry from the same parent population in two streams. Average instantaneous growth rates differed between streams but not among the three rearing groups. The survival of naturally reared fry was significantly greater than that of both types of hatchery fry (relative survival ¼ 0.33) but did not differ between the conventional and enriched environments. Naturally reared fry grew and survived equally well regardless of the type of hatchery fry with which they were stocked. Supplementation increased fry population size in all stream sections but produced hatchery-biased populations. Steelhead fry preferred pool habitat within stream sections, but pool use was affected by an interaction between rearing environment and stream. Hatchery fry had more clumped spatial distributions than naturally reared fry, which were affected by a significant interaction between rearing type and stream. Hatchery rearing type and stream had no effect on the spatial distribution of naturally reared fry. We conclude that (1) hatchery steelhead fry released in streams grow as well as naturally reared fry but do not survive as well, (2) enriched hatchery environments do not improve postrelease growth or survival, and (3) upon release, fry raised in enriched hatchery environments affect the growth and survival of naturally reared fry in much the same way as fry reared in conventional hatchery environments.Keywords: postrelease survival, hatchery, Oncorhynchus mykis

Complete Genome Sequences of Three Important Methicillin-Resistant Clinical Isolates of Staphylococcus pseudintermedius.

We report the first complete genome sequences of three predominant clones (ST68, ST71, and ST84) of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus pseudintermedius in North America. All strains were isolated from canine infections and have different SCCmec elements and antibiotic resistance gene patterns