scholarly journals pH Variability and its Relationship with Sarcomere Length and Free Calcium in Beef from Commercial Cattle in Puerto Rico

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. I. Torres-Burgos ◽  
H. Sánchez-Rodríguez ◽  
M. Pagán-Morales ◽  
A. Casas-Guernica ◽  
C. Calkins ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Puerto Rico ◽  
Beef Cattle ◽  
Dairy Cattle ◽  
Calcium Concentration ◽  
Sarcomere Length ◽  
Free Calcium ◽  
Ph Values ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The University ◽  
The Relationship

ObjectivesResearch conducted at the University of Puerto Rico noted that beef with elevated pH values (> 5.86) resulted in more tender meat (P ≤ 0.05). It has been established that proteolytic degradation mechanisms can be influenced by pH and calcium concentration in muscle. Beef with pH values ≥ 5.86 is classified as Dark Firm and Dry (DFD) but there are negative implications associated with greater pH values. However, observations indicating increased tenderness with increased pH raise the question: can variations in pH be associated with differences in sarcomere length (SL) and free calcium concentration (FCC)? Therefore, the objectives of this project were to: (1) document pH distribution; (2) determine the incidence of DFD; and (3) evaluate the relationship between pH, SL, and FCC in commercial cattle harvested in Puerto Rico.Materials and MethodsLongissimus lumborum samples (n = 51) were obtained and background information was noted including number of permanent incisors (PI), type (Dairy or Beef), and gender. The pH values were used to categorize beef into the following groups: Low (≤ 5.40), Normal (5.41 to 5.59), High (5.60 to 5.85) and DFD (≥ 5.86). Meat was flash frozen, powdered, and placed on a microscope slide and a Helium-Neon laser was used to determine SL. A subset of samples was sent off and prepared at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln for FCC quantification (Ward Laboratories; Kearney, NE) with an inductively coupled plasma emission spectrometer (iCAP 6500 Radial; Thermo Electron, Cambridge, UK). All statistical analyses were conducted in SAS (9.4). The Proc FREQ was used to determine pH category distributions and incidence of DFD. The Proc GLIMMIX and Tukey adjustment (α = 0.05) were used to determine the effects of number of PI, type, and gender on pH category, SL and FCC. The Proc CORR was used to evaluate the relationship between pH category, SL and FCC.ResultsThe pH category distribution for the current samples was as follows: 3.92% Low, 41.18% Normal, 35.29% High and 19.61% DFD. The SL ranged from 1.69 to 1.46 mm with an average of 1.53 mm. The FCC ranged from 132.19 to 31.39 mM with an average of 64.23 mM. Longer sarcomeres were detected in cattle with eight and zero PI (1.57 and 1.56 mm, respectively); cattle with two and four PI had intermediate SL (1.53 and 1.52 mm, respectively), and cattle with six PI had the shortest sarcomeres (1.51 mm; P = 0.03). Dairy cattle had longer sarcomeres relative to beef cattle (1.56 vs. 1.52 mm; P = 0.02). Dairy cattle tended to have increased FCC relative to beef cattle (70.72 vs. 58.38 mM; P = 0.08). Also, FCC tended to be greater within the Normal and Low pH categories relative to the High and DFD categories (72.36 vs. 57.31 mM; P = 0.06). The SL and FCC had no relationship (P > 0.05) within the Low, Normal and High pH categories. However, DFD beef had longer SL (0.78; P = 0.01), while having decreased FCC (–0.66; P = 0.04).ConclusionOver half (54.90%) of the beef samples analyzed fell into the High and DFD pH categories, with nearly 20% being classified as DFD. Although, a clear relationship was not established between SL and FCC within the Low, Normal or High pH categories, the results indicate that the increased pH in samples surpassing the DFD threshold correspond to longer sarcomeres and decreased free calcium.

scholarly journals Whole genome comparisons of Staphylococcus agnetis isolates from cattle and chickens

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdulkarim Shwani ◽  
Pamela R. F. Adkins ◽  
Nnamdi S. Ekesi ◽  
Adnan Alrubaye ◽  
Michael J. Calcutt ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dairy Cattle ◽  
Phylogenetic Trees ◽  
University Of Missouri ◽  
Commercial Broiler ◽  
Chicken Isolate ◽  
Broiler Farm ◽  
Molecular Relationships ◽  
The University ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Genome Comparisons

AbstractS. agnetis has been previously associated with subclinical or clinically mild cases of mastitis in dairy cattle and is one of several Staphylococcal species that have been isolated from the bone and blood of lame broilers. We were the first to report that S. agnetis could be obtained frequently from bacterial chondronecrosis with osteomyelitis (BCO) lesions of lame broilers. Further, we showed that a particular isolate of S. agnetis, chicken isolate 908, can induce lameness in over 50% of exposed chickens, far exceeding normal BCO incidences in broiler operations. We have previously reported the assembly and annotation of the genome of isolate 908. To better understand the relationship between dairy cattle and broiler isolates, we assembled 11 additional genomes for S. agnetis isolates, including an additional chicken BCO strain, and ten isolates from milk, mammary gland secretions or udder skin, from the collection at the University of Missouri. To trace phylogenetic relationships, we constructed phylogenetic trees based on multi-locus sequence typing, and Genome-to-Genome Distance Comparisons. Chicken isolate 908 clustered with two of the cattle isolates along with three isolates from chickens in Denmark and an isolate of S. agnetis we isolated from a BCO lesion on a commercial broiler farm in Arkansas. We used a number of BLAST tools to compare the chicken isolates to those from cattle and identified 98 coding sequences distinguishing isolate 908 from the cattle isolates. None of the identified genes explain the differences in host or tissue tropism. These analyses are critical to understanding how Staphylococci colonize and infect different hosts and potentially how they can transition to alternative niches (bone vs dermis).ImportanceStaphylococcus agnetis has been recently recognized as associated with disease in dairy cattle and meat type chickens. The infections appear to be limited in cattle and systemic in broilers. This report details the molecular relationships between cattle and chicken isolates in order to understand how this recently recognized species infects different hosts with different disease manifestations. The data show the chicken and cattle isolates are very closely related but the chicken isolates all cluster together suggesting a single jump from cattle to chickens.

scholarly journals Hvem publiserer hva? Hvordan kjønn påvirker publiseringsgrad

2021 ◽  
pp. 99-118
Author(s):  
Øystein Gullvåg Holter ◽  
Lotta Snickare ◽  
Greta Gober
Keyword(s):  
Natural Sciences ◽  
Scholarly Publishing ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Number Of Publications ◽  
University Of Oslo ◽  
The University ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Gender Influences ◽  
Publishing Practices

Who is Publishing What? How Gender Influences Publication This chapter examines scholarly publishing within the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at the University of Oslo from a gendered perspective. The question posed is whether women publish less than men, and if so, why. Based on self-reported publishing volumes, the study applies multivariable methods to investigate the relationship between the number of publications and factors such as position, total worktime and gender. The analyses show that gender has little significance when these other factors are entered into the model. The results are discussed in light of other studies on publishing practices.

Patterns of alcohol consumption and psychiatric disorders among Ontario adults

1997 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 533-556 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen Ross ◽  
Jürgen Rehm ◽  
Gordon Walsh
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Psychiatric Disorders ◽  
Problem Drinking ◽  
Composite International Diagnostic Interview ◽  
Diagnostic Interview ◽  
University Of Michigan ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The University ◽  
The Relationship

This study examined the relationship between patterns of alcohol consumption, including problem drinking, and psychiatric disorders in the general population. The paper utilizes data on 8,116 adults age 15–64 living in households who were interviewed for the Ontario Health Survey and the Mental Health Supplement. The University of Michigan Composite International Diagnostic Interview (UM-CIDI) was administered by trained lay interviewers to generate lifetime DSM-III-R diagnoses. Unlike previous studies, the results of this study provided no evidence of a U-shaped or J-shaped curve or relationship between alcohol use and mental health. Lifetime abstainers had the lowest risks for all mental disorders examined, while former at-risk drinkers (those who had not had a drink in the previous year but at one time regularly drank more than 12 drinks a week) had the highest risks, even after adjustment for age and gender.

ACADEMIC WORDS AND GENDER

1998 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin Scarcella ◽  
Cheryl Zimmerman
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Vocabulary Knowledge ◽  
Esl Students ◽  
Length Of Residence ◽  
Sat Scores ◽  
Educational Backgrounds ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The University ◽  
The Relationship

This paper seeks to resolve certain questions pertaining to the relationship between gender and second language vocabulary knowledge. One question we examine is whether female and male ESL students at the University of California at Irvine differ significantly in their knowledge of academic vocabulary in English as measured by scores on the Test of Academic Lexicon (TAL). One hundred ninety-two freshman university ESL students participated in the study. A t test, used to investigate differences in the TAL scores of males and females, reveals that the males performed better on the TAL than the females (t = 3.32, p = .001). Analyses of covariance were used to examine questions pertaining to the effect of gender on the TAL, controlling for the possible effects of the students' verbal Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores, length of residence in the United States, and age of arrival in the United States. In all cases, gender remains significantly related to the results of the TAL when controlling for the other variable: for verbal SAT scores, F(1,181) = 5.86, p < .05; for length of residence, F(1,187) = 9.64, p < .01; and for age of arrival in the United States, F(1,185) = 10.22, p < .005. Neither the present study nor the gender literature reviewed suggests that gender itself causes differences in the TAL scores. In analyzing the results, we consider possible explanations for the males' better TAL scores related to reading habits, interactional styles, educational backgrounds, and cultures.

scholarly journals “YES, I WILL WORK ON MY FREE TIME” – DIGITAL WORK ON AMAZON MECHANICAL TURK AS THE HISTORICAL CONTINUATION OF THE EXPLOITATION OF WOMEN'S LABOR

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruno Moreschi ◽  
Amanda Jurno ◽  
Monique Lemos
Keyword(s):  
Women Workers ◽  
Gender Issues ◽  
Mechanical Turk ◽  
Amazon Mechanical Turk ◽  
Women's Labor ◽  
Late Capitalism ◽  
Digital Work ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The University ◽  
The Relationship

In this proposal, we pursue an approximation to Amazon Mechanical Turk (AMT) women workers to understand their specificities and their layers of dependence in this environment so pertinent to the “late capitalism” (Crary 2016). AMT is an online platform where workers perform low-paid services that cannot be efficiently automated. Since 2019, in the Group [Anonymized excerpt], at the University [Anonymized excerpt], we have carried out projects where we approach these workers in an attempt to understand their routines, desires and the future of work itself. In our experiences, it has become evident that women turkers tend to be even more precarious due to gender issues passed to AMT. Also we concluded that AMT help keeping the women labor power available for unpaid domestic services and, at the same time, make it profitable for several companies. To understand more about them, we conducted a survey with 53 women turkers and systematized their responses. We approached some of them to understand the relationship between Artificial Intelligence and gender issues, and also ways of better working conditions and more autonomy for these women workers.

The War against Catholicism: Liberalism and the Anti-Catholic Imagination in Nineteenth-Century Germany. By Michael B. Gross. Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press. 2004. Pp. 376. $70.00 (cloth); $24.95 (paper). ISBN 0-472-11383-6 (cloth); 0-472-03130-9 (paper).

2006 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 311-314
Author(s):  
Siegfried Weichlein
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Religious Conflict ◽  
University Of Michigan ◽  
Ann Arbor ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The University ◽  
The Relationship

In recent years, a growing literature on nationalism has highlighted cultural and gender topics. At the same time, religion, most prominently Catholicism, has attracted the intellectual energy of more and more scholars. To date, however, the relationship between nationalism and religion has been undervalued. Helmut Walser Smith's study German Nationalism and Religious Conflict was one of the first to relate religious conflict to the character of German nationalism. Michael B. Gross now analyzes the relationship between German liberalism and religion.

Depressed intracellular calcium transients and contraction in myocytes from hypertrophied and failing guinea pig hearts

1991 ◽  
Vol 261 (2) ◽  
pp. H514-H530 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. M. Siri ◽  
J. Krueger ◽  
C. Nordin ◽  
Z. Ming ◽  
R. S. Aronson
Keyword(s):  
Calcium Concentration ◽  
Sarcomere Length ◽  
Pressure Overload ◽  
Left Ventricular ◽  
Free Calcium ◽  
Impaired Left Ventricular Function ◽  
Intact Cells ◽  
Fura 2 ◽  
Free Calcium Concentration ◽  
Gradual Pressure

We investigated the basis for impaired left ventricular function of hearts in which hypertrophy was produced by gradual pressure overload. We measured myoplasmic free calcium concentration ([Ca2+]i) with fura-2 and sarcomere shortening in single myocytes isolated from control hearts and hypertrophied failing hearts. Diastolic [Ca2+]i was normal, but [Ca2+]i at the peak of contraction was depressed in myocytes from failing hypertrophied hearts. Increasing drive rate from 0.20 Hz to 5.00 Hz increased both diastolic and peak [Ca2+]i. Norepinephrine (3 x 10(-6) M) increased diastolic [Ca2+]i in all cells and tended to normalize peak [Ca2+]i in myocytes from hypertrophied failing hearts during 5.00 Hz drive. Depressed peak [Ca2+]i in the hypertrophied cells was paralleled by significant decreases in both the velocity and percent of sarcomere shortening, which were measured in cells not loaded with fura-2. Sarcomere length was correlated with estimates of [Ca2+]i in intact cells and with controlled levels of [Ca2+] in chemically "skinned" myocytes. A plot of sarcomere length against [Ca2+] gave a single continuous relationship that spanned resting and peak values at all drive rates in both the control and hypertrophied myocytes. Thus heart failure in this model is reflected in impaired myocyte contraction, which is closely related to reduced levels of [Ca2+]i during systole rather than to depressed myofilament sensitivity to Ca2+.

Culturally speaking : media, intimacy, and the vocal dimension of race and gender

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Amanda Nell Edgar
Keyword(s):  
Critical Race Theory ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Vocal Communication ◽  
University Of Missouri ◽  
Race And Gender ◽  
Gendered Identities ◽  
Saturday Night Live ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The University ◽  
The Relationship

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] This project examines the racial and gendered meanings of vocal sound, focusing specifically on the ways voices and their cultural associations are circulated through media. I employ methods and theoretical assumptions drawn from cultural studies, rhetoric, and feminist and critical race theory to examine mediated voices. The traditional textual analysis methods and more innovative approaches specific to vocal communication studies I outline here are designed to map the relationship between two tenets of vocal ideology: vocal identity and vocal intimacy. Through this project, then, I extend previous literature on vocal sound's ability to construct and communicate aspects of racial and gendered identities. Additionally, this study theorizes the way these identities work with media's structures and the broader cultural context to encourage a sense of intimacy for consumers. The theoretical tenets of what I call "critical cultural vocalics" are concretized through analyses of Morgan Freeman's acting career, political impersonations on Saturday Night Live, and Whitevoice impressions by stand-up comedians of color. By examining these two intersecting and co-constitutive processes in the context of three case studies, I propose and demonstrate a critical cultural vocalics designed to foreground the ways vocal identity and vocal intimacy work together to idealize particular performances of race and gender through media's voices.

The pH of Puerto Rican Soils Used for Principal Crops

1969 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 107-119
Author(s):  
George Samuels
Keyword(s):  
Puerto Rico ◽  
Puerto Rican ◽  
Soil Ph ◽  
Acid Soils ◽  
Soil Series ◽  
Root Crop ◽  
Ph Values ◽  
Ph Range ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Acid Range

The pH values of the soils of Puerto Rico were determined with the following results: 1. About 80 percent of the soils were acid (below pH 7) and 50 percent were below pH 6, which was acid enough to require liming. 2. Most of the soils planted to bananas were pH 6 and above. 3. The pH range for brushland was wide, extending from acid to alkaline. 4. Eighty percent of the soils of the coconut plantations were above pH 6. 5. Coffee soils, in general, were acid, with 63 percent below pH 6, of which 49 percent were in the range pH 5.0 to 5.9 and 13 percent in the very acid range of pH 4.0 to 4.9. 6. The pH of soils planted to corn varied widely. 7. The small cotton acreage had a pH range of 5.0 to 5.9. 8. The soils planted to grapefruit had 57 percent of their acreage at pH 4.0 to 4.9 and 29 percent in the range pH 5.0 to 5.9. 9. The natural pastures had 75 percent of their soil at pH below 6, whereas improved and rotational pastures had only 39 percent below pH 6. 10. Pineapples were planted in acid soils, 75 percent of which were below pH 6. 11. The majority, 68 percent, of the plantains were grown in acid soils below pH 6. 12. Root-crop soils had a systematic distribution throughout the range of pH from below 4 to above 8. 13. Most soils used for soilage (cut grass) had a pH above 6. 14. Eighty-one percent of the sugarcane acreage was found to be in the range of pH 5 to 8. About 36 percent of the cane acreage was below pH 5.5 and in need of liming. 15. Tobacco was grown primarily on acid soils, with 61 percent of its acreage on those below pH 6. 16. No vegetables were found in soils with a pH below 5, and 50 percent were planted in soils with a pH above 6. 17. The pH range for woodland soil was distributed rather evenly from a pH 5 to 7.9. 18. The average pH and range of pH of the soils of Puerto Rico are presented, by soil series, and several examples are given of the relationship between soil pH and soil series.

scholarly journals Whole-Genome Comparisons of Staphylococcus agnetis Isolates from Cattle and Chickens

2020 ◽  
Vol 86 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdulkarim Shwani ◽  
Pamela R. F. Adkins ◽  
Nnamdi S. Ekesi ◽  
Adnan Alrubaye ◽  
Michael J. Calcutt ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dairy Cattle ◽  
Phylogenetic Trees ◽  
University Of Missouri ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Commercial Broiler ◽  
Chicken Isolate ◽  
Broiler Farm ◽  
Molecular Relationships ◽  
The University ◽  
The Relationship

ABSTRACT Staphylococcus agnetis has been previously associated with subclinical or clinically mild cases of mastitis in dairy cattle and is one of several staphylococcal species that have been isolated from the bones and blood of lame broilers. We reported that S. agnetis could be obtained frequently from bacterial chondronecrosis with osteomyelitis (BCO) lesions of lame broilers (A. Al-Rubaye et al., PLoS One 10:e0143336, 2015 [https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0143336]). A particular isolate, S. agnetis 908, can induce lameness in over 50% of exposed chickens, exceeding normal BCO incidences in broiler operations. We reported the assembly and annotation of the genome of isolate 908. To better understand the relationship between dairy cattle and broiler isolates, we assembled 11 additional genomes for S. agnetis isolates, an additional chicken BCO strain, and ten isolates from cattle milk, mammary gland secretions, or udder skin from the collection at the University of Missouri. To trace phylogenetic relationships, we constructed phylogenetic trees based on multilocus sequence typing and genome-to-genome distance comparisons. Chicken isolate 908 clustered with two of the cattle isolates, along with three isolates from chickens in Denmark and an isolate of S. agnetis we isolated from a BCO lesion on a commercial broiler farm in Arkansas. We used a number of BLAST tools to compare the chicken isolates to those from cattle and identified 98 coding sequences distinguishing isolate 908 from the cattle isolates. None of the identified genes explain the differences in host or tissue tropism. These analyses are critical to understanding how staphylococci colonize and infect different hosts and potentially how they can transition to alternative niches (bone versus dermis). IMPORTANCE Staphylococcus agnetis has been recently recognized as associated with disease in dairy cattle and meat-type chickens. The infections appear to be limited in cattle and systemic in broilers. This report details the molecular relationships between cattle and chicken isolates in order to understand how this recently recognized species infects different hosts with different disease manifestations. The data show that the chicken and cattle isolates are very closely related, but the chicken isolates all cluster together, suggesting a single jump from cattle to chickens.

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