Pig in Biological News

Engineered pig stem cells bridge the mouse-human gap

The discovery that adult skin cells can be 'reprogrammed' to behave like stem cells has been a major scientific boon, providing a way to tap the potential of embryonic stem cells without the associated ethical quandaries. Now, in a study appearing online in JBC, researchers have created a line of ...

Oil spray reduces greenhouse gas emissions from pig finishing barns

MADISON, WI, DECEMBER 8, 2008 Animal feeding operations are an important emission source of air pollutants including methane and carbon dioxideknown greenhouse gases. Recent inventories suggest that animal manure makes a significant contribution to global methane emissions. As a consequence, green...

NIST chemists get scoop on crude 'oil' from pig manure

After a close examination of crude oil made from pig manure, chemists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) are certain about a number of things. Most obviously, "This stuff smells worse than manure," says NIST chemist Tom Bruno. But a job's a job, so the NIST team has...

New computer applications allow to classify Iberian pig meat automatically

This release is available in Spanish . Fast identification of animal meat for human consumption is especially interesting as it is a guarantee of quality for consumers and producers. Consumption of Iberian pig meat is traditional in Spain as an exponent of good taste and maximum gastronom...

Researchers report technique for freezing and preserving genetically enhanced pig embryos

Researchers led by a University of Missouri-Columbia professor of reproductive biotechnology have reported success in freezing and preserving swine embryos that were created by in vitro techniques and that carried modified genetic material. After thawing and transfer to a surrogate mother, some of ...

Successful transplantation from pig embryos to mice

Millions of diabetics face a lifetime of daily injections to replace the insulin their bodies fail to produce, as well as a host of risks that includes blindness, amputation, kidney failure, and heart disease. For many, particularly those afflicted with juvenile diabetes, transplants of the pancrea...

Illinois pig to make history as source of first complete swine genome

A pig used for research at the University of Illinois atUrbana-Champaign has a home in history. Its DNA will provide the first sequence of the swine genome to be completed with the help of a two-year $10 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced today (Jan. 13) by Agriculture ...

Brazilians sequence genes of pig and poultry killers

Brazilian researchers have sequenced the genomes of two bacteria that cause significant damage to pig and poultry farming in Brazil and elsewhere. The researchers are now analysing the results in an attempt to identify bacterial proteins that could be used to develop vaccines and diagnostic kits ...

Public release of pig genomic sequences

Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the Danish Committee of Pig Breeding and Production (DCPBP) jointly announce the public release of pig genomic sequences. The released sequence data include 3.84 million pieces of the genomes of five different domestic pi...

K-State researcher, collaborators study virulence of pandemic H1N1 virus

...latter approach is done by creating diagnostics that detect antibodies produced by animals infected with the virus. "We do this work to protect the pig industry in case the virus would jump into the swine population," Richt said. His work with outside collaborators is testing the virulence of pande...

Improving livestock productivity in Honduras

.... "In Honduras, there is a saying that livestock constitutes the savings of the country," Juan Carlos Ordoez explains. "Most rural families raise a pig or a small herd of cattle that, come December, they can sell for cash. Thus, it truly is an alcanca (personal savings) of the country." ...

'Beating' heart machine expedites research and development of new surgical tools, techniques

...ve developed a "dynamic heart system" a machine that pumps fluid through a pig heart so that it functions in a very realistic way. "Researchers can obtain pig hearts from a pork processing facility and use the system to test their pro...

K-State researcher finds 1918 flu resulted in current lineage of H1N1 swine influenza viruses

...lu were the same. Richt said the virus was able to infect and replicate in swine and cause mild respiratory disease. The 1918 virus spread through the pig population, adapted to the swine and resulted in the current lineage of the H1N1 swine influenza viruses. The researchers' study is published in the M...

Avian flu research sheds light on swine flu outbreak

...ion and Control of Avian Influenza Coordinated Agricultural Project, AICAP. "The virus formed when avian, swine, and human-like viruses combined in a pig to make a new virus. After mutating to be able to spread by respiratory droplets and infect humans, it is now spreading between humans by sneezing an...

Hippo ancestry disputed

...ties College of Medicine, and his colleagues. Thewissen says that whales are more closely linked to an extinct pig-like animal, often known as India's pig or Indohyus, while hippos are closely related to living pigs. But this isn't accurate according to Theodor. "What Thewissen is saying is that In...

Pigs and dogs can bridge gap between mice and humans in developing new therapies

...ence Foundation (ESF), which called for a European pig clinic to facilitate generation and characterisati...cal and physiological similarities between dog and pig on the one side and human on the other, large anim...transplantation of tissue between species, such as pig to human). In theory this could also be possible i...

UNC scientists teach enzyme to make synthetic heparin in more varieties

...na. A synthetic version of the drug that can be produced in controlled conditions is key to preventing a recurrence of that tragedy, Liu said. "The pig stuff has served us well for 50 years and is very inexpensive, but if we cannot control the supply chain, we cannot ensure the safety of the drug," Li...

Human embryonic stem cell secretions minimized tissue injury after heart attack

...nal. By demonstrating the efficacy of this secretion in an experimental pig model, currently the best approximation to a human heart attack patient und...negligible risk of tumour formation or rejection by the body. In the pig research model, this approach minimised heart injury after a heart attack, ...

American Chemical Society's Weekly PressPac -- Aug. 13, 2008

...n, the widely used blood thinner now produced from pig intestines. The U. S. Food and Drug Administration...associated with contaminated heparin produced from pig tissues in China, a non-animal source of this esse...deaths." Linhardt points out that processing of pig intestines to extract the raw materials is often d...

Study shows quantum dots can penetrate skin through minor abrasions

...kin. Additionally, Monteiro-Riviere's laboratory previously showed quantum dots of different size, shape and surface coatings could penetrate into pig skin. The anatomical complexity of skin and species differences should be taken into consideration when selecting an animal model to study nanoparticl...

Study links low-frequency hearing to shape of the cochlea

... low as 20 Hz. The power of this approach is illustrated by the cat, guinea pig and sea lion. The cochlea of the cat is longer than that of the guinea pig, but the guinea pig has a ratio of 7.2 and can hear down to 47 Hz, while the cat, with a smalle...

Deadly dose: Rensselaer heparin expert helps uncover source of lethal contamination

...in. Biological heparin is currently developed by purifying the scrapings of pig and cow intestines. "This contamination is unfortunately a sign that the...," Linhardt said of his recipe for synthetic heparin. "So instead of taking pig intestines and trying to purify it over and over again to reduce it down to...

MIT-led teams unravel heparin death mystery

...g and Health Sciences and Technology at MIT. Heparin, a blood thinner often used during kidney dialysis or heart surgery, is normally produced from pig intestines. FDA officials say the contaminated heparin came from factories in China that manufacture the drug for Baxter International. Baxter rec...

Island monkeys do not recognize big cat calls

...would flee in about four to five seconds. But on hearing recorded human voices, the monkeys would flee within a second. They did not flee from bird or pig noises. Yorzinski, of course, had to take care to stay out of sight when locating monkeys and setting up speakers. "We couldn't do the experiment i...

New insights into the fate of antiparasitics in manure and manured soils

...antiparasitics flubendazole and fenbendazole mainly remained extractable in pig manure and soil samples. Antibiotics like sulfonamides, in contrast, rapidl... accompanied by corresponding metabolites. Due to their slow degradation in pig manure, the manure storage is not considered to reduce substantially the en...

Breakthrough research identifies how cells from pigs may cure diabetes

...September 20, at 10:00 a.m. CDT, Hering will present the latest research on pig islet xenotransplantation at the Diabetes Research and Wellness Foundation ... widespread availability of islet cell tissue so that an adequate supply of pig donors will be available for clinical islet cell transplantation trials usi...

Report: African, Asian, Latin American farm animals face extinction

...breeds comprised 72 percent of the sow population in 1994, and within eight years, this had dropped to just 26 percent. Of the countrys fourteen local pig breeds, five are now vulnerable, two are in critical state, and three are facing extinction. Scientists predict that Ugandas indigenous Ankole catt...

Pig study sheds new light on the colonisation of Europe by early farmers

...ademies of Sciences USA, analysed mitochondrial DNA from ancient and modern pig remains. Its findings also suggest that the migration of an expanding Middl...on of people. However, the discovery and analysis of ancient Middle Eastern pig remains across Europe reveals that although cultural exchange did happen, E...

Hepatitis E takes a piggyback

...atou and Nishiura suggest that changes in husbandry practices and avoiding eating raw liver might be more cost-effective measures should HEV’s hold on pig farms weaken....

Experimental vaccine given during pregnancy reduces stillbirths from common virus

...ize CMV. The gene used in the experimental guinea pig CMV vaccine—UL83, also called pp65—contains the in... became pregnant and were injected with the guinea pig form of CMV early in their third trimester. T...perimental vaccine had acquired immunity to guinea pig CMV because they produced antibodies to the virus—...

A healthier start to a pig's life

... A welcome innovation for industry Current pig production methods could benefit significantly fro...roposition for the farmer, as the profit margin on pig production is not high. "We are very interested in...ral Sciences University at Alnarp, Sweden, studied pig behaviour and the practical application of lectin ...

Targeting tumors the natural way

... The team got the idea to mimic this process from efforts to transplant pig organs into primates. The surfaces of most mammalian and bacterial cells ex...the carbohydrate, called anti-Gal. When scientists tried transplanting pig organs into primates, the anti-Gal antibodies bound to the alpha-Gal on the...

A transplant in time

...nd members of his lab have been experimenting with tissue transplanted from pig embryos ?a possible substitute for human donor organs. From this, they have...lantation at 42 days. Hemophiliac mice with spleen tissue transplanted from pig embryos at this time experienced completely normal blood clotting within a ...

Reversing 'hibernating' heart muscle focus of UB researchers

...al Heart Lung and Blood Institute builds on pioneering work of scientists in UB's Center for Research in Cardiovascular Medicine who developed a novel pig model with hibernating myocardium. Previous research has shown that, while restoring blood flow to these "hibernating" regions improves function a...

New GI technologies improve internal organ visualization

...des nearby vasculature and organs. The researchers tested the feasibility of EUS to perform angiography in three pigs. EUS was conducted on each pig to identify major blood vessels, including the thoracic and abdominal aorta, celiac axis, superior mesenteric artery, splenic vein, portal vein, splen...

NHGRI announces latest sequencing targets

...nctional. The seven mammals to be sequenced are: the nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus); domestic cat (Felis catus); guinea pig (Cavia porcellus); African savannah elephant (Loxodonta africana); tree shrew (Tupaia species); rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus); and a bat species that...

Neurons grown from embryonic stem cells restore function in paralyzed rats

...make sure the treatments are safe. There currently is no large-animal model for motor neuron degeneration, so Dr. Kerr's group is working to develop a pig model. Researchers also need to test human embryonic stem cells to learn if they will work in the same way as the mouse cells. It has only recently b...

U of MN uses robotic surgery techniques in cardiac cell therapy research

...the stem cells into the damaged hearts. The cells were "labeled" with iron particles so that researchers would be able to see if they engrafted in the pig hearts. The cells were successfully transplanted in six of seven cases. Subsequent MRI studies showed that the cells took hold in the heart and f...

Diabetes researchers pioneer islet cell xenotransplantation in primate studies

... those researchers used islets isolated from adult pig pancreases. Neonatal islets were produced in Ed...s. Greg Korbutt and Rajotte developed in 1995. The pig islets were sent to the Yerkes Research Center for...chers is simple and reproducible with the neonatal pig islets having some growth potential post-transplan...

Agricultural workers at increased risk for infection with animal flu viruses

...humans," says NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D. "The worry is that if a pig were to become simultaneously infected with both a human and an avian influ...oup included 79 volunteers from the University of Iowa with no occupational pig exposure. The researchers tested the serum samples for antibodies to sev...