Ghrelin acts as an endocrine link connecting physiological processes regulating food intake, body composition, growth, and energy balance. Ghrelin is the only peptide known to undergo octanoylation. The enzyme mediating this process, ghrelin O-acyltransferase (GOAT), is expressed in the gastrointestinal tract (GI; primary source of circulating ghrelin) as well as other tissues. The present stud...

Taste perception plays an important role in regulating food preference, eating behavior and energy homeostasis. Taste perception is modulated by a variety of factors, including gastric hormones such as ghrelin. Ghrelin can regulate growth hormone release, food intake, adiposity, and energy metabolism. Octanoylation of ghrelin by ghrelin O-acyltransferase (GOAT) is a specific post-translational ...

In Oklahoma, goat producers are blessed with climatic conditions conducive to viable goat production. However, they also are burdened with the eastward expansion of predator populations that constantly are increasing. Predator control within a goat herd is probably one of the single most important factors in maintaining profitable returns from a goat operation. In 2004, U.S. losses of goats and...

Bovine viral diarrhoea virus (BVDV) is an economically important pathogen of cattle worldwide. Infection of a pregnant animal may lead to persistent infection of the foetus and birth of a persistently infected (PI) calf that sheds the virus throughout its life. However, BVD viruses are not strictly species specific. BVDV has been isolated from many domesticated and wild ruminants. This is of pr...

UNLABELLED The Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) recently spread from an animal reservoir to infect humans, causing sporadic severe and frequently fatal respiratory disease. Appropriate public health and control measures will require discovery of the zoonotic MERS coronavirus reservoirs. The relevant animal hosts are liable to be those that offer optimal MERS virus cell en...

BACKGROUND Navajo Nation Community Health Representatives (CHR) are trained community health workers (CHWs) who provide crucial services for patients and families. The success of the CHRs' interventions depends on the interactions between the CHRs and their clients. This research investigates the culturally specific factors that build and sustain the CHR-client interaction. METHODS In-depth i...

BACKGROUND As the prevalence of obesity increases in developing countries, the double burden of malnutrition (DBM) has become a public health problem, particularly in countries such as Guatemala with a high concentration of indigenous communities where the prevalence of stunting remains high. OBJECTIVE The aim was to describe and analyze the prevalence of DBM over time (1998-2008) in indigeno...

Kisspeptins, the product of the KISS1 gene, play an essential role in the regulation of reproductive functions, acting primarily at the hypothalamic level of the gonadotropic axis. We detected polymorphisms of the goat KISS1 gene in 723 individuals from three goat breeds (Xinong Saanen, Guanzhong, and Boer) by DNA pooling, PCR-RFLP, and DNA sequencing methods. We cloned the promoter sequence of...