Utero-placental adaptations in response to intrauterine growth restriction in swine.

Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) is a common condition in swine associated with high piglet mortality and morbidity that develops in early gestation. This review article explores differences in uterine and placental tissues associated with IUGR fetuses compared to their normally-grown littermates at different stages of gestation. Specifically, we will review the available knowledge to date describing differences in 1) structure, 2) cellular apoptosis and proliferation, 3) adhesion, and 4) angiogenesis in endometrial and placental tissues associated with IUGR fetuses across gestation.

Exogenous progesterone supplementation: a strategy to enhance conceptus development in sheep and pigs?

Abstract: The inability of animals to get pregnant, pregnancy loss and weak or stillborn offspring are significant economic burdens to livestock producers worldwide. Progesterone, the hormone of pregnancy, has a crucial role in the establishment of pregnancy, and it has been suggested that progesterone supplementation may be a promising strategy to improve pregnancy outcomes and conceptus development. This review article describes the existing literature on progesterone supplementation in sheep and pigs in relation to pregnancy outcomes and conceptus development.

An analytical complete model of root pressure generation: Theoretical bases for studying hydraulics of bamboo.

To better understand the dynamics and functional roles of root pressure, we represent a novel and the first complete analytical model for root pressure, which can be applied to complex roots/shoots. The osmotic volume of a single root is equal to that of the vessel lumen in fine roots and adjacent apoplastic spaces. Water uptake occurs via passive osmosis and active solute uptake ( , osmol s ), resulting in the osmolyte concentration C (mol·kg of water) at a fixed osmotic volume.

A web-based tool for assessing the condition of benthic diatom assemblages in streams and rivers of the conterminous United States.

Benthic diatom assemblages are known to be indicative of water quality but have yet to be widely adopted in biological assessments in the United States due to several limitations. Our goal was to address some of these limitations by developing regional multi-metric indices (MMIs) that are robust to inter-laboratory taxonomic inconsistency, adjusted for natural covariates, and sensitive to a wide range of anthropogenic stressors. We aggregated bioassessment data from two national-scale federal programs and used a data-driven analysis in which all-possible combinations of 2-7 metrics were compared for three measures of performance.

A unit pipe pneumatic model to simulate gas kinetics during measurements of embolism in excised angiosperm xylem.

The pneumatic method has been introduced to quantify embolism resistance in plant xylem of various organs by applying a partial vacuum to cut-open xylem. Despite the similarity in vulnerability curves between the pneumatic and other methods, a modeling approach is needed to investigate if changes in xylem embolism during dehydration can be accurately quantified based on gas diffusion kinetics. Therefore, a unit pipe pneumatic (UPPn) model was developed to estimate gas extraction from intact conduits, which were axially interconnected by inter-conduit pit membranes to cut-open conduits.