Percentages and yields of fat, crude protein (CP), true protein (TP) and non-protein nitrogen (NPN) wereassessed in milk of four groups of Holstein cows, at early, mid and late lactation (days in milk 20-70, 71-110, 111-150 and 151-210), on a diet rich in concentrates during a hot summer. Four milk samples were taken from individual cows at 10-day intervals. Milk fat percentages were close to b...

During pregnancy, selenium (Se) and folate requirements increase, with deficiencies linked to neural tube defects (folate) and DNA oxidation (Se). This study investigated the effect of a high-fat diet either supplemented with (diet H), or marginally deficient in (diet L), Se and folate. Pregnant female mice and their male offspring were assigned to one of four treatments: diet H during gestatio...

The mammary gland has long drawn the attention of the scientific community due to the limited knowledge of some fundamental aspects involved in the control of its function. Myotis velifer, a microchiropteran species, provides an interesting model to study some of the regulatory factors involved in the control of the mammary gland cycle. Having an asynchronous, monoestrous reproductive pattern, ...

Little is known about rest and sleep in dairy cows, but it has been shown in other species that the total amount of sleep, duration of sleep bouts and distribution of sleep over 24 hours differ depending on health status, age, pregnancy and lactation. Sleep recordings conducted on cows with surgically implanted electrodes have shown that they sleep four hours per 24-hour period. In this thesis,...

The transition period for a dairy cow is from 3 to 2 wk prepartum until 2 to 3 wk postpartum. The term transition is to underscore the important physiological, metabolic, and nutritional changes occurring in this time frame. It constitutes a turning point in the productive cycle of the cow from one lactation to the next. The manner in which these changes occur and how they are managed are of gr...

Effects of two levels of dietary selenium (se) on reproductive performance and blood Se status of mature gestating and lactating sows were evaluated over one reproductive cycle. Four groups of six Duroc sows were fed basal corn-soybean meal (SBM) or corn-SBM-tankage diets each with or without .1 ppm supplemental Se. The basal diets contained .1 ppm natural Se. Changes from the 28th day of gesta...

Background Recent studies have demonstrated that the cyclical nature of mouse lactation can be mirrored at the transcriptome level of the mammary glands but making sense of microarray results requires analysis of large amounts of biological information which is increasingly difficult to access as the amount of literature increases. Extraction of protein-protein interaction from text by statisti...

In tsetse flies, nutrients for intrauterine larval development are synthesized by the modified accessory gland (milk gland) and provided in mother's milk during lactation. Interference with at least two milk proteins has been shown to extend larval development and reduce fecundity. The goal of this study was to perform a comprehensive characterization of tsetse milk proteins using lactation-spe...