Genes involved in the cholecystokinin receptor signaling map were differentially expressed in the jejunum of steers with variation in residual feed intake.

The jejunum is a critical site for nutrient digestion and absorption, and variation in its ability to take up nutrients within the jejunum is likely to affect feed efficiency. The purpose of this study was to determine differences in gene expression in the jejunum of beef steers divergent for residual feed intake (RFI) in one cohort of steers (Year 1), and to validate those genes in animals from a second study (Year 2). Steers from Year 1 ( = 16) were selected for high and low RFI.

Association of and variants with bovine congestive heart failure in feedlot cattle.

Background: Bovine congestive heart failure (BCHF) has become increasingly prevalent among feedlot cattle in the Western Great Plains of North America with up to 7% mortality in affected herds. BCHF is an untreatable complex condition involving pulmonary hypertension that culminates in right ventricular failure and death. Genes associated with BCHF in feedlot cattle have not been previously identified.

Genetic parameters for carcass traits of progeny of beef bulls mated to dairy cows.

Beef × dairy crossbred cattle (n = 615) were used to evaluate the effect of preharvest indicator traits and genotypes on the accuracy of estimated breeding values (EBVs) of seedstock candidates for selection. Genotypes for 100,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms were provided by the American Simmental Association of purebred and crossbred seedstock animals (n = 2,632). Five hundred and ninety-five of the 615 beef × dairy cattle had carcass camera and ultrasound data.

Socioemotional Development of Infants and Toddlers During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Importance: Understanding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children's socioemotional development is critical to plan for ongoing needs in the early intervention and education systems.

Objective: To determine if Ages and Stages Questionnaire, Third Edition (ASQ-3) and Ages and Stages Questionnaire Social-Emotional, Second Edition (ASQ:SE-2) scores changed during the COVID-19 pandemic among families served by a nurse-visiting program.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This retrospective, cohort study took place from 2015 through 2021 and included 4 cohorts (prepandemic, pandemic 1, pandemic 2, and pandemic 3) with differing pandemic exposure at the time of screening.

Early detection of infectious bovine keratoconjunctivitis with artificial intelligence.

Artificial intelligence (AI) was developed to distinguish cattle by their muzzle patterns and identify early cases of disease, including infectious bovine keratoconjunctivitis (IBK). It was tested on 870 cattle in four locations, with 170 developing IBK. The AI identified 169 of the 170 cases prior to their identification by veterinarians, and another 17 cases that remained free of IBK signs (sensitivity = 99.

Heritability and variance component estimation for feed and water intake behaviors of feedlot cattle.

Feed and water intake are two important aspects of cattle production that greatly impact the profitability, efficiency, and sustainability of producers. Feed and, to a lesser degree, water intake have been studied previously; however, there is little research on their associated animal behaviors and there is a lack of standardized phenotypes for these behaviors. Feed and water intakes obtained with an Insentec system (Hokofarm Group, The Netherlands) from 830 crossbred steers were used to compute five intake behaviors for both feed and water: daily sessions (DS), intake rate (IR), session size (SS), time per session (TS), and session interval (SI).

Variance component estimates for growth traits in beef cattle using selected variants from imputed low-pass sequence data.

A beef cattle population (n = 2,343) was used to assess the impact of variants identified from the imputed low-pass sequence (LPS) on the estimation of variance components and genetic parameters of birth weight (BWT) and post-weaning gain (PWG). Variants were selected based on functional impact and were partitioned into four groups (low, modifier, moderate, high) based on predicted functional impact and re-partitioned based on the consequence of mutation, such as missense and untranslated region variants, into six groups (G1-G6). Each subset was used to construct a genomic relationship matrix (GRM) for univariate animal models.

On the Reactivity of a NHC Nickel Bis-Boryl Complex: Reductive Elimination and Formation of Mono-Boryl Complexes.

The synthesis of the first terminal mono-boryl complexes of nickel, which are not stabilized by a pincer ligand, is reported. The reaction of the nickel bis-boryl complex cis-[Ni( Pr Im ) (Bcat) ] 1 (cat=1,2-O C H ) with the small donor ligand PMe led to a complete ligand exchange at nickel with reductive elimination of B cat and formation of the bis-NHC adduct [B cat  ⋅ ( Pr Im ) ] 3 and [Ni(PMe ) ] 2 as the metal-containing species. Electrophilic attack of MeI on complex 1 or ligand dismutation of 1 with trans-[Ni( Pr Im ) Br ] led to loss of only one boryl ligand of 1 and afforded the nickel mono-boryl complexes trans-[Ni( Pr Im ) (Bcat)Br] 4 a and trans-[Ni( Pr Im ) (Bcat)I] 4 b.

Variance component estimation and genome-wide association of predicted methane production in crossbred beef steers.

Enteric methane is a potent greenhouse gas and represents an escape of energy from the ruminant digestive system. Additive genetic variation in methane production suggests that genetic selection offers an opportunity to diminish enteric methane emissions. Logistic and monetary difficulties in directly measuring methane emissions can make genetic evaluation on an indicator trait such as predicted methane production a more appealing option, and inclusion of genotyping data can result in greater genetic progress.

Use of overlapping DNA pools to discern genetic differences despite pooling error.

Genotyping pools of commercial cattle and individual seedstock animals may reveal hidden relationships between sectors enabling use of commercial data for genetic evaluation. However, commercial data capture may be compromised by inexact pool formation. We aimed to estimate the concordance between distances or genomic covariance among pooling allele frequencies (PAFs) of DNA pools comprised of 100 animals with 0% or 50% overlap of animals in common between pools.

Heritability of beef cow metabolizable energy for maintenance.

Most of the metabolizable energy that a cow uses during a production year is for maintenance; however, less is known about the heritability of maintenance compared to other traits that can be measured directly. Feed intake is a heritable trait in the mature cow and most of the feed consumed is used for maintenance. We hypothesized that maintenance energy was a heritable trait.

Genetic and phenotypic associations of mitochondrial DNA copy number, SNP, and haplogroups with growth and carcass traits in beef cattle.

Mitochondrial DNA copy number (mtDNA CN) is heritable and easily obtained from low-pass sequencing (LPS). This study investigated the genetic correlation of mtDNA CN with growth and carcass traits in a multi-breed and crossbred beef cattle population. Blood, leucocyte, and semen samples were obtained from 2,371 animals and subjected to LPS that resulted in nuclear DNA (nuDNA) and mtDNA sequence reads.

NHC induced radical formation homolytic cleavage of B-B bonds and its role in organic reactions.

New borylation methodologies have been reported recently, wherein diboron(4) compounds apparently participate in free radical couplings the homolytic cleavage of the B-B bond. We report herein that bis-NHC adducts of the type (NHC)·B(OR), which are thermally unstable and undergo intramolecular ring expansion reactions (RER), are sources of boryl radicals of the type NHC-BR˙, exemplified by MeIm·Bneop˙ 1a (MeIm = 1,3,4,5-tetramethyl-imidazolin-2-ylidene, neop = neopentylglycolato), which are formed by homolytic B-B bond cleavage. Attempts to apply the boryl moiety 1a in a metal-free borylation reaction by suppressing the RER failed.

Breeding Sustainable Beef Cows: Reducing Weight and Increasing Productivity.

Programs for sustainable beef production are established, but the specific role of beef cows in these systems is not well defined. This work characterized cows for two traits related to sustainability, cow weight (CW) and cumulative weight weaned (WtW). Cow weight indicates nutrient requirements and enteric methane emissions.

Low predictive power of clinical features for relapse prediction after antidepressant discontinuation in a naturalistic setting.

The risk of relapse after antidepressant medication (ADM) discontinuation is high. Predictors of relapse could guide clinical decision-making, but are yet to be established. We assessed demographic and clinical variables in a longitudinal observational study before antidepressant discontinuation.

Genetic architecture of a composite beef cattle population.

Composite breeds are widely used in the beef industry. Composites allow producers to combine desirable traits from the progenitor breeds and simplify herd management, without repeated crossbreeding and maintenance of purebreds. In this study, genomic information was used to evaluate the genetic composition and characteristics of a three-breed beef cattle composite.

Using pooled data for genomic prediction in a bivariate framework with missing data.

Pooling samples to derive group genotypes can enable the economically efficient use of commercial animals within genetic evaluations. To test a multivariate framework for genetic evaluations using pooled data, simulation was used to mimic a beef cattle population including two moderately heritable traits with varying genetic correlations, genotypes and pedigree data. There were 15 generations (n = 32,000; random selection and mating), and the last generation was subjected to genotyping through pooling.

Influence of environmental factors and genetic variation on mitochondrial DNA copy number.

Mitochondrial DNA copy number (mtDNA CN) has been shown to be highly heritable and associated with traits of interest in humans. However, studies are lacking in the literature for livestock species such as beef cattle. In this study, 2,371 individuals from a crossbred beef population comprising the Germplasm Evaluation program from the U.

Genetic parameters, heterosis, and breed effects for body condition score and mature cow weight in beef cattle.

Understanding the genetic relationship between mature cow weight (MWT) and body condition score (BCS) is useful to implement selection programs focused on cow efficiency. The objectives of this study were to estimate genetic parameters, heterosis, and breed effects for MWT and BCS. In total, 25,035 and 24,522 overlapping records were available for MWT and BCS on 6,138 and 6,131 cows, respectively, from the Germplasm Evaluation program, a crossbred beef population at the U.

Hematology parameters as potential indicators of feed efficiency in pigs.

The identification of an inexpensive, indirect measure of feed efficiency in swine could be a useful tool to help identify animals with improved phenotypes to supplement expensive phenotypes including individual feed intakes. The purpose of this study was to determine whether hematology parameters in pigs at the beginning and end of a feed efficiency study, or changes in those values over the study, were associated with average daily gain (ADG), average daily feed intake (ADFI), or gain-to-feed (G:F). Whole blood samples were taken at days 0 and 42 from pigs ( = 178) that were monitored for individual feed intakes and body weight gain during a 6-week study.

First-Row d-Block Element-Catalyzed Carbon-Boron Bond Formation and Related Processes.

Organoboron reagents represent a unique class of compounds because of their utility in modern synthetic organic chemistry, often affording unprecedented reactivity. The transformation of the carbon-boron bond into a carbon-X (X = C, N, and O) bond in a stereocontrolled fashion has become invaluable in medicinal chemistry, agrochemistry, and natural products chemistry as well as materials science. Over the past decade, first-row d-block transition metals have become increasingly widely used as catalysts for the formation of a carbon-boron bond, a transformation traditionally catalyzed by expensive precious metals.

Transcriptome profiles of the skeletal muscle of mature cows during feed restriction and realimentation.

Objective: Realimentation can compensate for weight loss from poor-quality feedstuffs or drought. Mature cows fluctuate in body weight throughout the year due to nutrient availability. The objective of this study was to determine whether cows that differ in weight gain during realimentation also differ in the abundance of transcripts for enzymes associated with energy utilization in skeletal muscle.

Accuracy of GEBV of sires based on pooled allele frequency of their progeny.

Despite decreasing genotyping costs, in some cases individually genotyping animals is not economically feasible (e.g., in small ruminants).

Breed and heterotic effects for mature weight in beef cattle.

Cow mature weight (MWT) is heritable and affects the costs and efficiency of a breeding operation. Cow weight is also influenced by the environment, and the relationship between the size and profitability of a cow varies depending on production system. Producers, therefore, need tools to incorporate MWT in their selection of cattle breeds and herd replacements.