MUCKE aims to mine a large volume of images, to structure them conceptually and to use this conceptual structuring in order to improve large-scale image retrieval. The last decade witnessed important progress concerning low-level image representations. However, there are a number problems which need to be solved in order to unleash the full potential of image mining in applications. The central problem with low-level representations is the mismatch between them and the human interpretation of image content. This problem can be instantiated, for instance, by the incapability of existing descriptors to capture spatial relationships between the concepts represented or by their incapability to convey an explanation of why two images are similar in a content-based image retrieval framework. We start by assessing existing local descriptors for image classification and by proposing to use co-occurrence matrices to better capture spatial relationships in images. The main focus in MUCKE is on cleaning large scale Web image corpora and on proposing image representations which are closer to the human interpretation of images. Consequently, we introduce methods which tackle these two problems and compare results to state of the art methods. Note: some aspects of this deliverable are withheld at this time as they are pending review. Please contact the authors for a preview.

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/iel2/4524/12820/00592460.pdf

Image Processing

50 Years of Image Analysis

OVERVIEW The GRA Marketing Internship Program is offered to students who are interested in gaining valuable work experience through efforts in marketing, membership, sales, and events. Interns work directly to assist the Director of Marketing and Communications on various tasks relating to upcoming GRA events. During this internship, students will work a minimum of 10 hours a week and a maximum of 20 hours a week. Students are encouraged to earn credit for their internship, however this is a paid internship. Students interested in obtaining credit for their internship must consult their academic advisor or the intern coordinator at their academic unit.

Role of WHO.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are endogenous ∼23 nt RNAs that play important gene-regulatory roles in animals and plants by pairing to the mRNAs of protein-coding genes to direct their posttranscriptional repression. This review outlines the current understanding of miRNA target recognition in animals and discusses the widespread impact of miRNAs on both the expression and evolution of protein-coding genes.

MicroRNAs: Target Recognition and Regulatory Functions

Intramuscular fat (IMF) content plays a key role in various quality traits of meat. IMF content varies between species, between breeds and between muscle types in the same breed. Other factors are involved in the variation of IMF content in animals, including gender, age and feeding. Variability in IMF content is mainly linked to the number and size of intramuscular adipocytes. The accretion rate of IMF depends on the muscle growth rate. For instance, animals having a high muscularity with a high glycolytic activity display a reduced development of IMF. This suggests that muscle cells and adipocytes interplay during growth. In addition, early events that influence adipogenesis inside the muscle (i.e proliferation and differentiation of adipose cells, the connective structure embedding adipocytes) might be involved in interindividual differences in IMF content. Increasing muscularity will also dilute the final fat content of muscle. At the metabolic level, IMF content results from the balance between uptake, synthesis and degradation of triacylglycerols, which involve many metabolic pathways in both adipocytes and myofibres. Various experiments revealed an association between IMF level and the muscle content in adipocyte-type fatty acid-binding protein, the activities of oxidative enzymes, or the delta-6-desaturase level; however, other studies failed to confirm such relationships. This might be due to the importance of fatty acid fluxes that is likely to be responsible for variability in IMF content during the postnatal period rather than the control of one single pathway. This is evident in the muscle of most fish species in which triacylglycerol synthesis is almost zero. Genetic approaches for increasing IMF have been focused on live animal ultrasound to derive estimated breeding values. More recently, efforts have concentrated on discovering DNA markers that change the distribution of fat in the body (i.e. towards IMF at the expense of the carcass fatness). Thanks to the exhaustive nature of genomics (transcriptomics and proteomics), our knowledge on fat accumulation in muscles is now being underpinned. Metabolic specificities of intramuscular adipocytes have also been demonstrated, as compared to other depots. Nutritional manipulation of IMF independently from body fat depots has proved to be more difficult to achieve than genetic strategies to have lipid deposition dependent of adipose tissue location. In addition, the biological mechanisms that explain the variability of IMF content differ between genetic and nutritional factors. The nutritional regulation of IMF also differs between ruminants, monogastrics and fish due to their digestive and nutritional particularities.

https://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/6455/1/fat_content_in_meat%2Dproducing_animals.pdf

Intramuscular fat content in meat-producing animals: development, genetic and nutritional control, and identification of putative markers.

Heat stress (HS) jeopardizes pig health, reduces performance variables, and results in a fatter carcass. Whether HS directly or indirectly (via reduced feed intake) is responsible for the suboptimal production is not known. Crossbred gilts (n = 48; 35 ± 4 kg BW) were housed in constantly climate-controlled rooms in individual pens and exposed to 1) thermal-neutral (TN) conditions (20°C; 35% to 50% humidity) with ad libitum intake (n = 18), 2) HS conditions (35°C; 20% to 35% humidity) with ad libitum intake (n = 24), or 3) pair-fed [PF in TN conditions (PFTN), n = 6, to eliminate confounding effects of dissimilar feed intake (FI)]. Pigs in the TN and HS conditions were sacrificed at 1, 3, or 7 d of environmental exposure, whereas the PFTN pigs were sacrificed after 7 d of experimental conditions. Individual rectal temperature (Tr), skin temperature (Ts), respiration rates (RR), and FI were determined daily. Pigs exposed to HS had an increase (P < 0.01) in Tr (39.3°C vs. 40.8°C) and a doubling in RR (54 vs. 107 breaths per minute). Heat-stressed pigs had an immediate (d 1) decrease (47%; P < 0.05) in FI, and this magnitude of reduction continued through d 7; by design the nutrient intake pattern for the PFTN controls mirrored the HS group. By d 7, the TN and HS pigs gained 7.76 and 1.65 kg BW, respectively, whereas the PFTN pigs lost 2.47 kg BW. Plasma insulin was increased (49%; P < 0.05) in d 7 HS pigs compared with PFTN controls. Compared with TN and HS pigs, on d 7 PFTN pigs had increased plasma NEFA concentrations (110%; P < 0.05). Compared with TN and PFTN controls, on d 7 circulating N(τ)-methylhistidine concentrations were increased (31%; P < 0.05) in HS pigs. In summary, despite similar nutrient intake, HS pigs gained more BW and had distinctly different postabsorptive bioenergetic variables compared with PFTN controls. Consequently, these heat-induced metabolic changes may in part explain the altered carcass phenotype observed in heat-stressed pigs.

The effects of heat stress and plane of nutrition on metabolism in growing pigs.

Excessive heat exposure reduces intestinal integrity and post-absorptive energetics that can inhibit wellbeing and be fatal. Therefore, our objectives were to examine how acute heat stress (HS) alters intestinal integrity and metabolism in growing pigs. Animals were exposed to either thermal neutral (TN, 21°C; 35–50% humidity; n = 8) or HS conditions (35°C; 24–43% humidity; n = 8) for 24 h. Compared to TN, rectal temperatures in HS pigs increased by 1.6°C and respiration rates by 2-fold (P<0.05). As expected, HS decreased feed intake by 53% (P<0.05) and body weight (P<0.05) compared to TN pigs. Ileum heat shock protein 70 expression increased (P<0.05), while intestinal integrity was compromised in the HS pigs (ileum and colon TER decreased; P<0.05). Furthermore, HS increased serum endotoxin concentrations (P = 0.05). Intestinal permeability was accompanied by an increase in protein expression of myosin light chain kinase (P<0.05) and casein kinase II-α (P = 0.06). Protein expression of tight junction (TJ) proteins in the ileum revealed claudin 3 and occludin expression to be increased overall due to HS (P<0.05), while there were no differences in claudin 1 expression. Intestinal glucose transport and blood glucose were elevated due to HS (P<0.05). This was supported by increased ileum Na+/K+ ATPase activity in HS pigs. SGLT-1 protein expression was unaltered; however, HS increased ileal GLUT-2 protein expression (P = 0.06). Altogether, these data indicate that HS reduce intestinal integrity and increase intestinal stress and glucose transport.

/pdf/heat-stress-reduces-intestinal-barrier-integrity-and-favors-5fel67moh9.pdf

Heat stress reduces intestinal barrier integrity and favors intestinal glucose transport in growing pigs.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) miniature pig was developed specifically for xenotransplantation and has been extensively used as a large-animal model in many other biomedical experiments. However, the cloning efficiency of this pig is very low (<0.2%), and this has been an obstacle to the promising application of these inbred swine genetics for biomedical research. It has been demonstrated that increased histone acetylation in somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) embryos, by applying a histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor such as trichostatin A (TSA), significantly enhances the developmental competence in several species. However, some researchers also reported that TSA treatment had various detrimental effects on the in vitro and in vivo development of the SCNT embryos. Herein, we report that treatment with 500 nM 6-(1,3-dioxo-1H, 3H-benzo[de]isoquinolin-2-yl)-hexanoic acid hydroxyamide (termed scriptaid), a novel HDAC inhibitor, significantly enhanced the development of SCNT embryos to the blastocyst stage when NIH inbred fetal fibroblast cells (FFCs) were used as donors compared with the untreated group (21% vs. 9%, P < 0.05). Scriptaid treatment resulted in eight pregnancies from 10 embryo transfers (ETs) and 14 healthy NIH miniature pigs from eight litters, while no viable piglets (only three mummies) were obtained from nine ETs in the untreated group. Thus, scriptaid dramatically increased the cloning efficiency when using inbred genetics from 0.0% to 1.3%. In contrast, scriptaid treatment decreased the blastocyst rate in in vitro fertilization embryos (from 37% to 26%, P < 0.05). In conclusion, the extremely low cloning efficiency in the NIH miniature pig may be caused by its inbred genetic background and can be improved by alteration of genomic histone acetylation patterns.

/pdf/significant-improvement-in-cloning-efficiency-of-an-inbred-43r9o46usd.pdf

Significant Improvement in Cloning Efficiency of an Inbred Miniature Pig by Histone Deacetylase Inhibitor Treatment after Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer

Conceptus-uterine communication is established during trophoblastic elongation when the conceptus synthesizes and releases estrogen, the maternal recognition signal in the pig. Interleukin-1β (IL-1β) is a differentially expressed gene during rapid trophoblastic elongation in the pig. The current investigation determined conceptus and endometrial changes in gene expression for IL-1β, IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Rant), IL-1 receptor type 1 (IL-1RT1), and IL-1 receptor accessory protein (IL-1RAP) in developing peri- and postimplantation conceptuses as well as uterine endometrium collected from cyclic and pregnant gilts. Conceptus IL-1β gene expression was enhanced during the period of rapid trophoblastic elongation compared with earlier spherical conceptuses, followed by a dramatic decrease in elongated Day 15 conceptuses. IL-1RT1 and IL-1RAP gene expression was greater in Day 12 and 15 filamentous conceptuses compared with earlier morphologies while IL-1Rant gene expression was unchanged by conce...

https://bioone.org/journals/biology-of-reproduction/volume-69/issue-4/biolreprod.103.015842/Characterization-of-the-Interleukin-1%ce%b2-System-During-Porcine-Trophoblastic-Elongation/10.1095/biolreprod.103.015842.pdf

Characterization of the Interleukin-1β System During Porcine Trophoblastic Elongation and Early Placental Attachment

Although pigs are used widely as models of human disease, their utility as models has been enhanced by genetic engineering Initially, transgenes were added randomly to the genome, but with the application of homologous recombination, zinc finger nucleases, and transcription activator-like effector nuclease (TALEN) technologies, now most any genetic change that can be envisioned can be completed To date these genetic modifications have resulted in animals that have the potential to provide new insights into human diseases for which a good animal model did not exist previously These new animal models should provide the preclinical data for treatments that are developed for diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, cystic fibrosis, retinitis pigmentosa, spinal muscular atrophy, diabetes, and organ failure These new models will help to uncover aspects and treatments of these diseases that were otherwise unattainable The focus of this review is to describe genetically engineered pigs that have resulted in models of human diseases

/pdf/genetically-engineered-pig-models-for-human-diseases-v4mmbe6xku.pdf

Jason W. Ross

Papers

The effects of heat stress and plane of nutrition on metabolism in growing pigs.

Heat stress reduces intestinal barrier integrity and favors intestinal glucose transport in growing pigs.

Significant Improvement in Cloning Efficiency of an Inbred Miniature Pig by Histone Deacetylase Inhibitor Treatment after Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer

Characterization of the Interleukin-1β System During Porcine Trophoblastic Elongation and Early Placental Attachment

Genetically Engineered Pig Models for Human Diseases