2007 MU theses - Access restricted to UM
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Item Prediction of optimal rumen degradable protein levels in no-roughage, corn-based feedlot diets(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2007) Pugh, Jamie A.; Kerley, Monty Stephen, 1960-[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] The need to balance no-roughage, corn-based feedlot diets for rumen degradable protein inclusion is essential in the feedlot setting. Five crossbred steers were fitted with ruminal and duodenal cannulas and used in a 5x5 Latin square design experiment. Dietary treatments were: CON (98% corn; 4.4% RDP), LOW RDP (90.1% corn, 7.9% SBM; 6.6% RDP), MID RDP (82% corn, 16% SBM; 8.8% RDP), HIGH RDP (73.9% corn, 24.1% SBM; 11% RDP), and NPN (96.3% corn, 1.7% biuret; 8.8% RDP). The CON and NPN diets were designed to limit MOEFF. Additionally, 100 crossbred steers were blocked by weight and divided into twenty pens. Dietary treatments were fed for 105 days and were CON (95.55% corn, 4.7% RDP), LOW (93.15% corn, 1.7% SBM, 1.15% urea, 5.2%RDP), MID (90.8% corn, 4.5% SBM, 0.7% urea, 5.9% RDP), HIGH (88.0% corn, 7.8% SBM, 0.2% urea, 6.7% RDP), NPN (94.6% corn, 1.4% urea, 4.7% RDP). The added RDP diets were designed to test that MOEFF, once optimized by RDP level, would not be enhanced by further increasing RDP. The NPN diet was used to compare non-protein to true protein nitrogen. We concluded from these results that RDP-peptide requirement was predictable and that diets can be formulated to meet this requirement.Item Ketamine immunomodulation during endotoxemia(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2007) DeClue, Amy E.; Cohn, Leah A.[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] Previous studies have shown that ketamine attenuates endotoxin (LPS)-induced production of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-[alpha] in murine models. Because TNF-[alpha] is a key mediator of the systemic and pulmonary inflammatory response to infection, we hypothesized that ketamine would ameliorate LPS-induced acute lung injury (ALI) in rats and prevent the hemodynamic and immunologic alterations in dogs. Forty male CD rats were divided into 4 treatment groups: control, ketamine, LPS and LPS+ ketamine. Rats were euthanized at either 1 or 6 hours after LPS administration for determination of serum TNF-[alpha] activity or pulmonary evaluation. Ketamine treatment blunted LPSinduced serum TNF-[alpha] activity but did not ameliorate the pulmonary histopathologic changes associated with endotoxemia. For the second study, nine dogs were randomized to either ketamine or placebo treatment groups in a cross-over design. At 30 min, LPS was administered. Heart rate (HR), systolic arterial blood pressure (SAP), plasma TNF-[alpha] activity and white blood cell (WBC) counts were evaluated. Dogs in the ketamine group had significantly lower HR and peak plasma TNF-[alpha] activity after LPS administration versus placebo. There were no differences detected between treatment groups for SAP or white blood cell counts. Based on these data, while ketamine ameliorates TNF-[alpha] production in rats and dogs, it is unlikely to have a clinically important impact on the development of acute lung injury, perturbations in WBC count or SAP during Gram negative sepsis.Item Stability of rater agreement measures: the effect of shifting cell values within fixed margins(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2007) Hendrickson, Gretchen; Steinley, Douglas[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] This thesis examines the effect of shifting cell observations within marginal values on rater agreement measures to provide guides for researchers in selecting rater agreement measures when presented with highly unequally distributed marginal values. The first study of the measures indicate von Eye's [kappa]sc is not as influenced by strictly increasing agreement as other measures of agreement and may be preferable to Cohen's (1960) [kappa]c in these cases. Cohen's (1968) weighted kappa measure, [kappa]w appears to be resistant to strictly increasing agreement in the same way as [kappa]sc. The second study investigates rater agreement measure patterns as different percent of agreement counts are moved across columns while maintaining fixed margins. Results indicate all kappa measures decrease with the same pattern and rate under the same conditions, indicating that regardless of assumptions or attempts to correct for chance agreement each measure takes into account, the absolute proportion of agreement may be the most parsimonious measure of agreement.Item College students' information search behavior for spring break: an exploration in the concept of specialization(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2007) Park, Sangwon, 1980-; Kim, Dae-Young, 1972-[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] This study identified college student travelers' different information search behaviors, dividing the travelers into groups of high, medium and low levels by using the concept of specialization. The research investigated the perceived value of information content and information sources, and identified the main information sources used to obtain information for their recent spring break trip. The results indicated that the different specialization groups assigned different values to information content and sources. More specifically, it appeared that the high specialization group placed greater value on information content such as accommodations, getting around, attractions, and activities, than the other two groups. In regard to internal information source and word of mouth, the high specialization group also showed the highest value of the three groups. The medium specialization group, on the other hand, was more likely to place importance on online travel agencies and television/radio than the other groups. Overall, the findings of this study supported the idea that the specialization concept can be used as a new approach to segment travelers in a more comprehensive way.Item Estrogen receptor [alpha] and [beta] knock-out effects on skeletal muscle in mature female and male mice, and aromatase knock-out effects on skeletal muscle in mature male mice(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2007) Ning, Jie; Brown, Marybeth[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] Estrogen regulates skeletal muscle mass and function in female. Estrogen may influence skeletal muscle mass and function during development in males as estrogen receptors (ER) have been identified in both female and male skeletal muscle. Whether estrogen exerts its effects on skeletal muscle through estrogen receptor alpha (ER[alpha]) or beta (ER[beta]) or directly during development is unclear. The main purpose of this study was to determine ER knock-out effects on muscle mass and contractile function in muscle with different fiber types, in mature female and male mice that were either ER[alpha] knock out (ER-/-) or ER[beta]-/- with corresponding wild type (WT) groups as controls. Loss of ER[alpha] results in increased Gast and TA muscle in female mice whereas the muscle functions are not affected, and ER[alpha] also influences female Plan muscle function. In contrast, ER[beta] might not have effects on skeletal muscle in female mice. ER-/- and Ar-/- result in decreased Gast and TA muscle in male mice, suggesting that estrogen/ER[alpha] signaling might directly regulate male muscle growth, whereas the muscle function are not affected. In contrast, ER[beta] might not have any effects on skeletal muscle in male mice.