Mycoplasma haemolamae is associated with mild to marked anemia in stressed, immune-suppressed, and debilitated animals, and may be found in low numbers in healthy animals. The continued presence of the organism, detectable by polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based assay, may be associated with an underlying problem, such as stress or immune-suppression...
Sweet onions are valued for their unique flavor and praised for their health and dietary character. Onion sweetness is perceived as the degree of pungency decreases. Pungency can be quantitatively determined in onions by measuring enzymatically produced pyruvic acid. The onion industry quantifies a sweet onion as one having a...
Perfluorinated chemicals have been widely used in industry for their superior surfactant qualities. Because of their widespread usage and resistance to photolytic and biodegradation mechanisms, as well as their ability to undergo long-range atmospheric transport, these compounds have become ubiquitous in the world-wide water supplies. Of particular interest are perfluorooctanoic...
Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF α) and interferon gamma (IFN γ) were initially recognized as inflammatory mediators produced by immune cells in response to infectious agents or foreign material. (1,5) However, over the past decade much research in mammalian species has indicated that these proteins also play key roles in...
Pesticides are ubiquitous, with more than one billion tons of pesticide products used in the United States annually. These compounds are characterized by their toxic effects to the target organism; however, pesticides are also well known for their deleterious effects to non-target species. Because pesticides have ecological and human health...
Cancer is class of diseases that has great diversity and unfortunately is one of the leading causes of death in the United States. Chemotherapy remains an important cancer treatment modality, and superior chemotherapeutic drugs are constantly being sought. Gemcitabine is an anti-tumor chemotherapeutic drug and it is the first line...
Chitosan based hemorrhage control dressings provide effective external hemorrhage control while having few side effects. Known residual contaminants present in chitosan formulations include endotoxins and proteins known to stimulate gene expression in the liver. This study investigated gene expression in the liver using rat bio-compatibility models to gain knowledge regarding...
Renibacterium salmoninarum is the causative agent of bacterial kidney disease in both
wild and farmed salmonid species worldwide. The genome of this pathogen has
significant synteny to the ubiquitous, soil-dwelling Arthrobacter spp. though it is 1.9 Mb
smaller, suggesting that reductive evolution has occurred. Recently, our group finished
sequencing and...
The ability of soils to store large quantities of carbon (C) makes them an important factor in the global C cycle. Small changes within soil C can lead to large changes in atmospheric C. Land management practices can influence the amount of C that is stored within the soil and...
The goal of this project was to develop and test non-herbicidal techniques that remove nonnative plant or weed seeds from the top 2 inches of the soil. The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is currently restoring prairies in the Willamette Valley. Some areas of the Pacific Northwest have already seen loss of...
Studies were conducted to assess influencing the effectiveness of sheep for grazing control of false brome (Brachypodium sylvaticum) an invasive grass species. Orphan lambs were exposed to false brome via grass extract in their milk and naturally reared lambs were exposed by grazing dense stands of false brome with their...
Chlorinated and non-chlorinated solvents are used in a variety of industrial processes and as a consequence, they have become environmental contaminants as well. Because of this, they lead to both occupational and environmental exposures. Exposure to these compounds can potentially result in various forms of neurological damage with a wide...
The bovine blastocyst is composed of a one-celled layer of trophectoderm
surrounding a fluid filled sac called the blastocoel and a ball of cells called the inner cell
mass (ICM). On Day 8 (Day 0=fertilization) in bovine embryos, endodermal cells leave
the ICM, migrate over the extracellular matrix (ECM) on...
Collaboration is crucial when advancing in scientific research. One person cannot
study all aspects of a system. That is why it is important for the scientific community to
communicate with each other and stay updated on research being conducted in other labs
around the world. In my research, I was...
Mammary tumors are the third most common tumor in cats after cutaneous neoplasia and lymphosarcoma. More than 80% of feline mammary tumors are adenocarcinomas, which are similar to human mammary adenocarcinomas in their biologic behavior and histologic characteristics. Despite treatment with radical mastectomy, feline mammary adenocarcinoma is associated with a...
The AhR is a ligand-activated transcription factor that mediates the potent immunosuppressive effects of TCDD. AhR-dependent changes in gene expression appear to alter the differentiation of CD4+ T cells to induce a population of CD4+CD25+ T regulatory cells (Tregs) that suppress the immune response. Ascertaining if and how the AhR...
Clostridium perfringens type A isolates produce the spore-specific enterotoxin, CPE, upon sporulation in the gastrointestinal tract of humans and animals. Spo0A is a response regulator representing the major transcription factor for sporulation initiation in C. perfringens. In Bacillus subtilis, a multicomponent phosphorelay involving five histidine kinases (KinA-KinE), the intermediate response...
Winter hardiness in barley (Hordeum vulgare) is a trait targeted by breeding programs in order to expand the potential area of adaptation of fall-sown cereals. Vernalization requirement is an important factor in winter hardiness. A vernalization requirement is an extended period of low temperature required for transition from the vegetative...