Experimental and comparative studies suggest that the striped coats of zebras can prevent biting fly attacks. Biting flies are serious pests of livestock that cause economic losses in animal ...production. We hypothesized that cows painted with black and white stripes on their body could avoid biting fly attacks and show fewer fly-repelling behaviors. Six Japanese Black cows were assigned to treatments using a 3 × 3 Latin-square design. The treatments were black-and-white painted stripes, black painted stripes, and no stripes (all-black body surface). Recorded fly-repelling behaviors were head throw, ear beat, leg stamp, skin twitch, and tail flick. Photo images of the right side of each cow were taken using a commercial digital camera after every observation and biting flies on the body and each leg were counted from the photo images. Here we show that the numbers of biting flies on Japanese Black cows painted with black-and-white stripes were significantly lower than those on non-painted cows and cows painted only with black stripes. The frequencies of fly-repelling behaviors in cows painted with black-and-white stripes were also lower than those in the non-painted and black-striped cows. These results thus suggest that painting black-and-white stripes on livestock such as cattle can prevent biting fly attacks and provide an alternative method of defending livestock against biting flies without using pesticides in animal production, thereby proposing a solution for the problem of pesticide resistance in the environment.
Body condition score (BCS) is a proxy for evaluating body fat reserves. However, monitoring BCS is a time-consuming and subjective task. Thus, we aimed to develop a method for estimating the BCS of ...beef cows using three-dimensional (3D) body features of cows’ rump area derived from 3D camera data. Three-dimensional surface data of the rump area from 39 multiparous cows were obtained using a 3D camera, and four 3D body features were extracted. The BCSs of the cows were scored by experts, and models for predicting BCS by 3D features were developed using machine learning algorithms. The derived model yielded an overall accuracy, precision, sensitivity, and F-measure of 90%, 88%, 90%, and 88%, respectively. Additionally, we evaluated a simple practical method to estimate BCS using the difference between heart girth (HG) and tightened heart girth (THG) for 118 multiparous cows. A cumulative logistic regression model for estimating BCS by the difference was developed, and the derived generalized coefficient of determination was 0.81. These results suggest that 3D images are useful for estimating the BCS of beef cows and that the difference between HG and THG can be used to estimate BCS as a simple practical method.
Effects of Moriguchizuke residue (MoR) as feed on the growth performance, frequency of water intake of pigs, carcass characteristics and meat quality during fattening were investigated. A total of 48 ...crossbred pigs (Large White×Landrace×Duroc, six barrows, and six gilts) were housed at a density of four pigs (two barrows and two gilts of similar weight) per pigpen. The pigs were divided into four groups each of which MoR was added to feed at levels of 0% (Control group), 3% (MoR3% group), 6% (MoR6% group) and 12% (MoR12% group). The pigs were fed with experimental diets when the average weight of the pigs in each group reached approximately 50 kg and was terminated when the average weights reached approximately 110 kg. Feed and drinking water were provided ad libitum. For the growth performance examined for twelve pigs in each group, the MoR 12% group showed a significantly higher feed intake than the control group (P<0.05). No significant differences were detected in other growth performance. For the frequency of water intake investigated for eight pigs in each group, the MoR 12% group showed a significantly higher frequency of water intake than the control group (P<0.05). For the carcass characteristics investigated for the following numbers of pigs (control: nine pigs, MoR3% : eleven pigs, MoR 6%, 12% : twelve pigs), carcass length in gilt was significantly shorter in the 6% group than the 3% group (P<0.05), and that in barrow was significantly shorter in the 6% group than the control group (P<0.05). For meat quality examined for three pigs (two barrows, one gilt) in each control, MoR3% and 6% group, no difference was observed. Our results suggested that MoR ≤6% is appropriate when feeding MoR to growing pigs without increasing the frequency of water intake, considering the growth performance, carcass characteristics and meat quality.
The effects of feeding liquid brewer’s yeast (LBY) on growth, carcass characteristics, and meat quality of finishing pigs were investigated. The LBY diet was prepared by replacing soybean meal ...(control diet) with LBY (experimental diet). A total of 12 crossbred pigs (Large White×Landrace×Duroc, six barrows and six gilts) were housed at a density of two pigs (one barrow and one gilt of similar weight) per pigpen, and three pigpens were assigned to each of the control and LBY diet groups. Pigs were supplied either the control or LBY diet when their weight reached approximately 80 kg, and feeding was stopped when their weight reached approximately 115kg. The experimental diet contained sufficient crude protein (CP) and total digestible nutrients (TDN), with dry weights of 15% and 75%, respectively, which were diluted with water to obtain a final dry weight of 22%. Growth performance, carcass characteristics, and sensory evaluation of the longissimus dorsi muscle were not significantly different between the groups. The fatty acid composition in the LBY group showed a significant decrease in C18:2 and C18:3 content and a high fat melting point. These results indicate that LBY may be a useful protein source for swine.
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) arises from several types of premalignant lesions, including intraductal tubulopapillary neoplasm (ITPN); however, the molecular pathogenesis of ITPN remains ...unknown.
We performed studies with Hnf1b-Cre
; Pten
; Arid1a
mice to investigate the consequence of genetic deletion of Arid1a in adult pancreatic ductal cells in the context of oncogenic PI3K/Akt pathway activation.
Simultaneous deletion of Arid1a and Pten in pancreatic ductal cells resulted in the development of ITPN, which progressed to PDAC, in mice. Simultaneous loss of Arid1a and Pten induced dedifferentiation of pancreatic ductal cells and Yes-associated protein 1/Transcriptional coactivator with PDZ-binding motif (YAP/TAZ) pathway activation. Consistent with the mouse data, TAZ expression was found elevated in human ITPNs and ITPN-derived PDACs but not in human intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms, indicating that activation of the TAZ pathway is a distinctive feature of ITPN. Furthermore, pharmacological inhibition of the YAP/TAZ pathway suppressed the dedifferentiation of pancreatic ductal cells and development of ITPN in Arid1a and Pten double-knockout mice.
Concurrent loss of Arid1a and Pten in adult pancreatic ductal cells induced ITPN and ITPN-derived PDAC in mice through aberrant activation of the YAP/TAZ pathway, and inhibition of the YAP/TAZ pathway prevented the development of ITPN. These findings provide novel insights into the pathogenesis of ITPN-derived PDAC and highlight the YAP/TAZ pathway as a potential therapeutic target.
SETDB1, a histone methyltransferase that trimethylates histone H3 on lysine 9, promotes development of several tumor types. We investigated whether SETDB1 contributes to development of pancreatic ...ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC).
We performed studies with Ptf1aCre; KrasG12D; Setdb1f/f, Ptf1aCre; KrasG12D; Trp53f/+; Setdb1f/f, and Ptf1aCre; KrasG12D; Trp53f/f; Setdb1f/f mice to investigate the effects of disruption of Setdb1 in mice with activated KRAS-induced pancreatic tumorigenesis, with heterozygous or homozygous disruption of Trp53. We performed microarray analyses of whole-pancreas tissues from Ptf1aCre; KrasG12D; Setdb1f/f, and Ptf1aCre; KrasG12D mice and compared their gene expression patterns. Chromatin immunoprecipitation assays were performed using acinar cells isolated from pancreata with and without disruption of Setdb1. We used human PDAC cells for SETDB1 knockdown and inhibitor experiments.
Loss of SETDB1 from pancreas accelerated formation of premalignant lesions in mice with pancreata that express activated KRAS. Microarray analysis revealed up-regulated expression of genes in the apoptotic pathway and genes regulated by p53 in SETDB1-deficient pancreata. Deletion of Setdb1 from pancreas prevented formation of PDACs, concomitant with increased apoptosis and up-regulated expression of Trp53 in mice heterozygous for disruption of Trp53. In contrast, pancreata of mice with homozygous disruption of Trp53 had no increased apoptosis, and PDACs developed. Chromatin immunoprecipitation revealed that SETDB1 bound to the Trp53 promoter to regulate its expression. Expression of an inactivated form of SETDB1 in human PDAC cells with wild-type TP53 resulted in TP53-induced apoptosis.
We found that the histone methyltransferase SETDB1 is required for development of PDACs, induced by activated KRAS, in mice. SETDB1 inhibits apoptosis by regulating expression of p53. SETDB1 might be a therapeutic target for PDACs that retain p53 function.
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