Assessment of organoleptic postmortem inspection techniques for bovine offal

Objective To evaluate organoleptic postmortem inspection techniques for bovine livers and kidneys.
Study design At Australian export abattoirs, bovine liver and kidneys are assessed and graded by qualified meat inspectors during normal operations. Over a 12-month period at a large abattoir in eastern Australia during 1997 and 1998, a sample of these organs was reassessed independently using a range of pathological and microbiological methods. Agreement between routine inspection and independent assessment was evaluated using methods of inter-rater agreement.
Results A total of 944 livers and 1374 kidneys were included in the study. All of these organs had been classified during routine inspection. The authors examined 363 livers and 329 kidneys both grossly and histologically, including 36 livers and 14 kidneys that were also subjected to microbiological examination. All other organs were only examined grossly. There was only a moderate level of agreement between the routine and independent assessment methods. For livers, the percentage agreement was 80.2%, McNemar's test of symmetry 55.2 (3 degrees of freedom, P < 0.001) and kappa 0.63. For kidneys, the percentage agreement was 67.8%, McNemar's test of symmetry 9.9 (1df, P = 0.002) and kappa 0.35.
Conclusions The results reinforce concerns from a number of authors about organoleptic postmortem inspection. Risk assessment methodologies offer the opportunity to modify inspection techniques in a manner that is most relevant to current public health concerns.     

Effects of growth factors on insulin-like growth factor binding protein (IGFBP) secretion by primary porcine satellite cell cultures.

Insulin-like growth factor-binding proteins (IGFBP) regulate the biological functions of insulin-like growth factors (IGF) and may affect cell growth through IGF-independent actions. Growth factors and hormones have been shown to alter IGFBP production by target cells suggesting that the effects of these factors may be partially mediated by the local production of IGFBP. Growth factors, including IGF-I, transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-beta1), and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) have potent effects on satellite cell proliferation and differentiation, and some of these factors have been shown to alter IGFBP production in various cell types. Consequently, some of their actions on muscle satellite cells may be mediated by the local production of IGFBP. In this study, we measured the effects of IGF-I, bFGF, and TGF-beta1 on IGFBP production by primary porcine satellite cell (PSC) cultures after first determining physiologically active concentrations of these growth factors to use according to [3H]thymidine incorporation dose responses. There is little information on the effects of these growth factors on IGFBP production in primary porcine myogenic cells due to the confounding affects of contaminating nonmuscle fibroblasts. Comparative studies show that primary porcine satellite cells produce IGFBP-3 and -5 whereas porcine muscle-derived nonfusing cells (FIB) produce IGFBP-2 and -4 but not IGFBP-3 or -5. Because of this, our investigations have focused on growth factor-induced production of IGFBP-3 and -5 in primary porcine satellite cells cultures. Both IGF-I and bFGF exhibited dose-dependent increases in [3H]thymidine incorporation with increasing concentration from 1 to 50 ng/mL (P < 0.05), whereas TGF-beta1 caused a dose-dependent decrease from 0.01 to 0.5 ng/mL (P < 0.05). When 20 ng/ mL of IGF-I was added to the media, IGFBP-3 was increased approximately 65% (P < 0.05) and IGFBP-5 was increased approximately twofold (P < 0.05). The addition of 0.5 ng/mL TGF-beta1 caused more than a two-fold increase in IGFBP-3 (P < 0.05) and approximately an 80% increase in IGFBP-5 (P < 0.05), whereas 50 ng/ mL of bFGF caused approximately 40% (P < 0.05) and 70% (P < 0.05) increases in IGFBP-3 and -5, respectively. Neither IGFBP-3 nor -5 was detectable in the conditioned media from fibroblasts whether or not IGF-I, TGF- beta1 or bFGF were present. These data suggest that the effects of IGF-I, TGF- beta1 and bFGF on porcine satellite cells may in part be through the autocrine/ paracrine production of IGFBP-3 and -5 by porcine satellite cells.     

Amphetamine poisoning in dogs.

Amphetamine intoxication in dogs referred to the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory or the Veterinary Hospital of the University of Minnesota was characterized by excitement, agitation, hyperthermia, and convulsive episodes that could be confused with other convulsant poisonings. Extraction procedures on stomach contents or urine enabled indentification of the drug, using ultraviolet spectrophotometry.     

Detrital Zircon Link Between Headwaters and Terminus of the Upper Triassic Chinle-Dockum Paleoriver System

New detrital-zircon geochronologic data reveal that a through-going paleoriver connected Texas with Nevada in Late Triassic time. Sandstone from the Upper Triassic Santa Rosa Sandstone (Dockum Group) from northwestern Texas contains a detrital zircon suite nearly identical to that found in western Nevada in the Upper Triassic Osobb Formation (Auld Lang Syne Group, correlative with the Chinle Formation). The Santa Rosa Sandstone was derived in large part from the eroded Cambrian core of the Amarillo-Wichita uplift, as evidenced by abundant zircons with ages of 515 to 525 million years. Other zircon grains in the sandstone are Permian, Devonian, Proterozoic, and Archean in age and, with the exception of the Archean grain, are also matched by the population in the Nevada strata.     

Timing of precision agriculture technology adoption in US cotton production

The timing of technology adoption is influenced by profitability and farmer ability to bear risk. Innovators are typically more risk tolerant than laggards. Understanding the factors influencing early adoption of precision agriculture (PA) technologies by cotton farmers is important for anticipating technology diffusion over time. The factors influencing the timing of grid soil sampling (GSS), yield monitoring (YMR) and remote sensing (RMS) adoption by cotton producers was evaluated using multivariate censored regression. Data for cotton farmers in 12 states were obtained from a survey conducted in 2009. The factors hypothesized to influence the timing of adoption included farm characteristics, operator characteristics, PA information sources, adoption of other PA technologies, and farm location. The results suggest that different factors influenced when cotton farmers adopted GSS, YMR and RMS after these technologies became commercially available. For example, land ownership was associated with the timing of GSS adoption, but not YMR or RMS adoption; farmer age was correlated with the timing of GSS and YMR adoption, but not RMS adoption; and obtaining PA information from consultants affected the timing of GSS and RMS adoption, but not YMR adoption. The only factors correlated with the early adoption of all three technologies were beliefs that PA would improve environmental quality and the adoption of at least one other PA technology. Thus, the potential for improved environmental quality appears to be a strong adoption motivator across PA technologies, as is the earlier adoption of other PA technologies. This research may be useful for farmers, researchers, Extension personnel, machinery manufacturers, PA information providers and agricultural retailers to anticipate the future adoption of new and emerging PA technologies.