Redox-Detecting Deep Learning for Mechanism Discernment in Cyclic Voltammograms of Multiple Redox Events.

In electrochemical analysis, mechanism assignment is fundamental to understanding the chemistry of a system. The detection and classification of electrochemical mechanisms in cyclic voltammetry set the foundation for subsequent quantitative evaluation and practical application, but are often based on relatively subjective visual analyses. Deep-learning (DL) techniques provide an alternative, automated means that can support experimentalists in mechanism assignment.

Autonomous closed-loop mechanistic investigation of molecular electrochemistry via automation.

Electrochemical research often requires stringent combinations of experimental parameters that are demanding to manually locate. Recent advances in automated instrumentation and machine-learning algorithms unlock the possibility for accelerated studies of electrochemical fundamentals via high-throughput, online decision-making. Here we report an autonomous electrochemical platform that implements an adaptive, closed-loop workflow for mechanistic investigation of molecular electrochemistry.

Ecology and Chronic Wasting Disease Epidemiology Shape Prion Protein Gene Variation in Rocky Mountain Elk (Cervus elaphus nelsoni).

As chronic wasting disease (CWD) continues to spread across North America, the relationship between CWD and host genetics has become of interest. In Rocky Mountain elk (Cervus elaphus nelsoni), one or two copies of a leucine allele at codon 132 of the prion protein gene (132L*) has been shown to prolong the incubation period of CWD. Our study examined the relationship between CWD epidemiology and codon 132 evolution in elk from Wyoming, USA, from 2011 to 2018.

Electrochemical Mechanistic Analysis from Cyclic Voltammograms Based on Deep Learning.

For decades, employing cyclic voltammetry for mechanistic investigation has demanded manual inspection of voltammograms. Here, we report a deep-learning-based algorithm that automatically analyzes cyclic voltammograms and designates a probable electrochemical mechanism among five of the most common ones in homogeneous molecular electrochemistry. The reported algorithm will aid researchers' mechanistic analyses, utilize otherwise elusive features in voltammograms, and experimentally observe the gradual mechanism transitions encountered in electrochemistry.

Behaviour is more important than thermal performance for an Arctic host-parasite system under climate change.

Climate change is affecting Arctic ecosystems, including parasites. Predicting outcomes for host-parasite systems is challenging due to the complexity of multi-species interactions and the numerous, interacting pathways by which climate change can alter dynamics. Increasing temperatures may lead to faster development of free-living parasite stages but also higher mortality.

Machine learning-based inverse design for electrochemically controlled microscopic gradients of O and HO.

A fundamental understanding of extracellular microenvironments of O and reactive oxygen species (ROS) such as HO, ubiquitous in microbiology, demands high-throughput methods of mimicking, controlling, and perturbing gradients of O and HO at microscopic scale with high spatiotemporal precision. However, there is a paucity of high-throughput strategies of microenvironment design, and it remains challenging to achieve O and HO heterogeneities with microbiologically desirable spatiotemporal resolutions. Here, we report the inverse design, based on machine learning (ML), of electrochemically generated microscopic O and HO profiles relevant for microbiology.

Machine-Learning-Enabled Exploration of Morphology Influence on Wire-Array Electrodes for Electrochemical Nitrogen Fixation.

Neural networks, trained on data generated by a microkinetic model and finite-element simulations, expand explorable parameter space by significantly accelerating the predictions of electrocatalytic performance. In addition to modeling electrode reactivity, we use micro/nanowire arrays as a well-defined, easily tuned, and experimentally relevant exemplary morphology for electrochemical nitrogen fixation. This model system provides the data necessary for training neural networks which are subsequently exploited for electrocatalytic material morphology optimizations and explorations into the influence of geometry on nitrogen fixation electrodes, feats untenable without large-scale simulations, on both a global and a local basis.

Conjugation of Carbon Dots with β-Galactosidase Enzyme: Surface Chemistry and Use in Biosensing.

Nanoparticles have been conjugated to biological systems for numerous applications such as self-assembly, sensing, imaging, and therapy. Development of more reliable and robust biosensors that exhibit high response rate, increased detection limit, and enhanced useful lifetime is in high demand. We have developed a sensing platform by the conjugation of β-galactosidase, a crucial enzyme, with lab-synthesized gel-like carbon dots (CDs) which have high luminescence, photostability, and easy surface functionalization.

Comparative Pathogenicity of Wildlife and Bovine O157:H7 Strains in Experimentally Inoculated Neonatal Jersey Calves.

Shiga toxin-producing , like O157:H7, are important human and animal pathogens. Naturally-acquired O157:H7 infections occur in numerous species but, particularly, cattle have been identified as a significant reservoir for human cases. O157:H7 are isolated from a number of domestic and wild animals, including rodents that share a living space with cattle.

Assessing cow-calf welfare. Part 2: Risk factors for beef cow health and behavior and stockperson handling.

Epidemiological studies can be used to identify risk factors for livestock welfare concerns but have not been conducted in the cow-calf sector for this purpose. The objectives of this study were to investigate the relationships of 1) herd-level management, facilities, and producer perspectives with cattle health and behavior and stockperson handling and 2) stockperson handling on cattle behavior at the individual cow level. Cow ( = 3,065) health and behavior and stockperson handling during a routine procedure (e.

Assessing cow-calf welfare. Part 1: Benchmarking beef cow health and behavior, handling; and management, facilities, and producer perspectives.

Assessment programs are one way beef producers communicate information about animal welfare to retailers and the public. Programs that monitor cattle through the production cycle (e.g.

Effect of a cooling gel on pain sensitivity and healing of hot-iron cattle brands.

Hot-iron branding is painful for cattle, but little is known about how long this pain lasts or effective alleviation methods. Previous work with pigs indicated that cooling burns with a gel (active ingredient: tea tree oil) improved healing compared to untreated wounds. Steers (210±21 kg) were hot-iron branded and allocated to 1 of 3 treatments: control (n=24), 1 gel application immediately after branding (1X; n=12), or 2 gel applications, 1 immediately after branding and one 1 d later (2X; n=12).

Pain sensitivity and healing of hot-iron cattle brands.

Hot-iron branding is painful for cattle, but little is known about the duration of or effective methods to control this pain. This work quantified pain sensitivity and healing in branded and unbranded animals. In addition, the effects of a single injection of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) were also considered; this has been suggested as practical method of mitigating pain in the hours after the procedure.

Healing of surgical castration wounds: a description and an evaluation of flunixin.

Previous studies have shown that surgical castration wounds take between 10 and 61 d to heal. The objectives of this work were to describe healing, inflammation, lying behavior, and serum concentration of substance P after surgical castration in beef calves and to evaluate the effect of a possible intervention, a single injection of flunixin meglumine (1.1 mg/kg IV, a NSAID), on the healing process.

Exploiting parallels between livestock and wildlife: Predicting the impact of climate change on gastrointestinal nematodes in ruminants.

Global change, including climate, policy, land use and other associated environmental changes, is likely to have a major impact on parasitic disease in wildlife, altering the spatio-temporal patterns of transmission, with wide-ranging implications for wildlife, domestic animals, humans and ecosystem health. Predicting the potential impact of climate change on parasites infecting wildlife will become increasingly important in the management of species of conservation concern and control of disease at the wildlife-livestock and wildlife-human interface, but is confounded by incomplete knowledge of host-parasite interactions, logistical difficulties, small sample sizes and limited opportunities to manipulate the system. By exploiting parallels between livestock and wildlife, existing theoretical frameworks and research on livestock and their gastrointestinal nematodes can be adapted to wildlife systems.

Assessment of a fluorescent antibody test for the detection of antibodies against epizootic bovine abortion.

The current study was directed at developing and validating an indirect fluorescent antibody test (IFAT) capable of detecting antibodies specific for the agent of epizootic bovine abortion (aoEBA). Sensitivity and specificity was determined by comparing antibody titers from 114 fetuses infected with aoEBA with 68 fetuses diagnosed with alternate infectious etiologies. Data established specificity at 100% and sensitivity at 94.

Survey of beef quality assurance on California dairies.

In October 2011, a mail and online survey of California dairy personnel was conducted to assess producer familiarity with and support of the Dairy Animal Care and Quality Assurance (DACQA) program. The DACQA program addresses cattle of all ages (birth to culling) and standard practices that affect the use of dairy cattle for beef. The survey was mailed to a random sample of 1,071 California dairies (65%) stratified by county, proportional to the number of dairies in each respective county.

Metabolic approaches to understanding climate change impacts on seasonal host-macroparasite dynamics.

Climate change is expected to alter the dynamics of infectious diseases around the globe. Predictive models remain elusive due to the complexity of host-parasite systems and insufficient data describing how environmental conditions affect various system components. Here, we link host-macroparasite models with the Metabolic Theory of Ecology, providing a mechanistic framework that allows integrating multiple nonlinear environmental effects to estimate parasite fitness under novel conditions.

Obligate larval inhibition of Ostertagia gruehneri in Rangifer tarandus? Causes and consequences in an Arctic system.

Larval inhibition is a common strategy of Trichostrongylidae nematodes that may increase survival of larvae during unfavourable periods and concentrate egg production when conditions are favourable for development and transmission. We investigated the propensity for larval inhibition in a population of Ostertagia gruehneri, the most common gastrointestinal Trichostrongylidae nematode of Rangifer tarandus. Initial experimental infections of 4 reindeer with O.

Evaluation of Anaplasma phagocytophilum infection in experimentally inoculated sheep and determination of Anaplasma spp seroprevalence in 8 free-ranging sheep flocks in California and Oregon.

Objective: To evaluate disease progression in sheep experimentally inoculated with Anaplasma phagocytophilum and determine the Anaplasma spp seroprevalence in sheep in free-ranging flocks in the Sierra Nevada foothills and Oregon Coast Range.

Animals: 10 mature ewes seronegative for Anaplasma spp and 251 sheep from 8 flocks.

Procedures: 10 ewes received 1 of 3 treatments: A phagocytophilum Webster strain (n = 4), A phagocytophilum MRK strain (4), or human promyelocytic leukemia cells (control treatment [2]).

Parasites in ungulates of Arctic North America and Greenland: a view of contemporary diversity, ecology, and impact in a world under change.

Parasites play an important role in the structure and function of arctic ecosystems, systems that are currently experiencing an unprecedented rate of change due to various anthropogenic perturbations, including climate change. Ungulates such as muskoxen, caribou, moose and Dall's sheep are also important components of northern ecosystems and are a source of food and income, as well as a focus for maintenance of cultural traditions, for northerners. Parasites of ungulates can influence host health, population dynamics and the quality, quantity and safety of meat and other products of animal origin consumed by people.

Development and availability of the free-living stages of Ostertagia gruehneri, an abomasal parasite of barrenground caribou (Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus), on the Canadian tundra.

Climate change in the Arctic is anticipated to alter the ecology of northern ecosystems, including the transmission dynamics of many parasite species. One parasite of concern is Ostertagia gruehneri, an abomasal nematode of Rangifer ssp. that causes reduced food intake, weight loss, and decreased pregnancy rates in reindeer.

Effect of a nutritional reconditioning program for thin dairy cattle on body weight, carcass quality, and fecal pathogen shedding.

Objective: To assess changes in body weight, carcass quality, and fecal pathogen shedding in cull dairy cows fed a high-energy ration for 28 or 56 days prior to slaughter.

Design: Randomized clinical trial.

Animals: 31 adult Holstein dairy cows.

Prevalence and molecular characterization of Escherichia coli O157:H7 by multiple-locus variable-number tandem repeat analysis and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis in three sheep farming operations in California.

A year-long study was conducted to determine the fecal prevalence of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in three sheep ranches. Strain diversity and persistence were compared with multiple-locus variable-number tandem repeat analysis and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. Ranch C, a feedlot, consisted of young sheep raised predominantly on a high-grain diet.