scholarly journals The future of animal production: improving productivity and sustainability

2011 ◽  
Vol 149 (S1) ◽  
pp. 9-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. A. HUME ◽  
C. B. A. WHITELAW ◽  
A. L. ARCHIBALD
Keyword(s):  
Agricultural Research ◽  
Wide Spectrum ◽  
Genetic Selection ◽  
Reproductive Technologies ◽  
Breeding Value ◽  
Food Needs ◽  
Analytical Tools ◽  
The Impact

SUMMARYThe challenge for the next 50 years is to increase the productivity of major livestock species to address the food needs of the world, while at the same time minimizing the environmental impact. The present review presents an optimistic view of this challenge. The completion of genome sequences, and high-density analytical tools to map genetic markers, allows for whole-genome selection programmes based on linkage disequilibrium for a wide spectrum of traits, simultaneously. In turn, it will be possible to redefine genetic prediction based on allele sharing, rather than pedigree relationships and to make breeding value predictions early in the life of the peak sire. Selection will be applied to a much wider range of traits, including those that are directed towards environmental or adaptive outcomes. In parallel, reproductive technologies will continue to advance to allow acceleration of genetic selection, probably including recombination in vitro. Transgenesis and/or mutagenesis will be applied to introduce new genetic variation or desired phenotypes. Traditional livestock systems will continue to evolve towards more intensive integrated farming modes that control inputs and outputs to minimize the impact and improve efficiency. The challenges of the next 50 years can certainly be met, but only if governments reverse the long-term disinvestment in agricultural research.

scholarly journals The impact of long-term dietary pattern of fecal donor on in vitro fecal fermentation properties of inulin

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 1805-1813 ◽  
Author(s):  
Junyi Yang ◽  
Devin J. Rose
Keyword(s):  
Fatty Acids ◽  
Short Chain Fatty Acids ◽  
Processed Meats ◽  
Branched Chain Fatty Acids ◽  
Fiber Plant ◽  
Branched Chain ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Chain Fatty Acids

A diet high in whole grains, dry beans, and certain vegetables that contributed dietary fiber, plant protein, and B vitamins resulted in high short chain fatty acids, while a diet high in diary and processed meats that provided cholesterol and little fiber resulted in high branched chain fatty acids and ammonia during fecal fermentation of inulin.

scholarly journals Alteration of Genomic Imprinting after Assisted Reproductive Technologies and Long-Term Health

Life ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 728
Author(s):  
Eguzkine Ochoa
Keyword(s):  
Embryonic Development ◽  
Experimental Evidence ◽  
Genomic Imprinting ◽  
Animal Studies ◽  
Assisted Reproductive Technologies ◽  
Reproductive Technologies ◽  
Early Embryonic Development ◽  
Global Methylation ◽  
The Impact

Assisted reproductive technologies (ART) are the treatment of choice for some infertile couples and even though these procedures are generally considered safe, children conceived by ART have shown higher reported risks of some perinatal and postnatal complications such as low birth weight, preterm birth, and childhood cancer. In addition, the frequency of some congenital imprinting disorders, like Beckwith–Wiedemann Syndrome and Silver–Russell Syndrome, is higher than expected in the general population after ART. Experimental evidence from animal studies suggests that ART can induce stress in the embryo and influence gene expression and DNA methylation. Human epigenome studies have generally revealed an enrichment of alterations in imprinted regions in children conceived by ART, but no global methylation alterations. ART procedures occur simultaneously with the establishment and maintenance of imprinting during embryonic development, so this may underlie the apparent sensitivity of imprinted regions to ART. The impact in adulthood of imprinting alterations that occurred during early embryonic development is still unclear, but some experimental evidence in mice showed higher risk to obesity and cardiovascular disease after the restriction of some imprinted genes in early embryonic development. This supports the hypothesis that imprinting alterations in early development might induce epigenetic programming of metabolism and affect long-term health. Given the growing use of ART, it is important to determine the impact of ART in genomic imprinting and long-term health.

Peculiarities of pregnancy and delivery course in women after the application of assisted reproductive technologies against obesity (Based on the retrospective analysis)

2018 ◽  
pp. 122-126
Author(s):  
I.A. Zhabchenko ◽  
◽  
O.R. Sudmak ◽  
Keyword(s):  
In Vitro Fertilization ◽  
Pregnant Women ◽  
Retrospective Analysis ◽  
Perinatal Outcomes ◽  
Reproductive Technologies ◽  
Ischemic Lesion ◽  
Vitro Fertilization ◽  
Pregnancy And Delivery

The objective: to study the structure and frequency of complications of pregnancy, deliveries and perinatal outcomes in three groups of women: women with infertility and obesity, treated by application of in vitro fertilization (hereinafter IVF), pregnant women after IVF application with normal body weight, and pregnant women on the background of obesity which did not have an infertility in past history. Materials and methods. A retrospective analysis of 221 case histories of pregnancies and labors in women who were treated and gave birth in the Pregnancy and delivery pathology Department of SI «Institute of Pediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynecology named after Acad. O. M. Lukyanova of NAMS of Ukraine» for 2012 – 2016 years was carried out. Results. The overwhelming majority of pregnant women after IVF on the background of obesity are primaparas, who have a complicated obstetric history, hormonal changes in the form of progesterone deficiency predominantly and chronic inflammatory processes. Pregnancy with a combination of infertility, treated by the means of IVF application, and obesity, in most cases is accompanied by a long-term threat of termination of pregnancy (48.8%), threatening preterm deliveries (56%), placental dysfunction (41.5%), premature rupture of the amniotic membranes (41.5%), other problems during pregnancy, at the same time, every second woman (58.5%) had a combination of several complications, and required a long-term and repeated inpatient treatment (53.7%). The specific gravity of surgical delivery was 90%, and 16.2% of such deliveries were complicated by pathological blood loss. The number of preterm deliveries was 17.1%, with perinatal losses up to 11.3‰. Among full-term newborns 21.3% of newborns had malnutrition of the I degree and 17% of them had hypoxic-ischemic lesion of CNS. Conclusion. The course of pregnancy, delivery and the postpartum period in the studied contingent of women has a significant frequency of complications, mainly the coinciding ones, which affects on the consequences of perinatal outcomes and requires further study of this problem and the development of differentiated algorithms for antenatal observation. Key words: pregnancy, obesity, in vitro fertilization, complications, delivery, newborn.

scholarly journals Reproductive fluids, used for the in vitro production of pig embryos, result in healthy offspring and avoid aberrant placental expression of PEG3 and LUM.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evelynne Paris-Oller ◽  
Sergio Navarro-Serna ◽  
Cristina Soriano-Úbeda ◽  
Jordana Sena Lopes ◽  
Carmen Matas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Performance ◽  
Assisted Reproductive Technologies ◽  
Culture Media ◽  
Reproductive Technologies ◽  
In Vitro Production ◽  
Aberrant Expression ◽  
Low Efficiency ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Background: In vitro embryo production (IVP) and embryo transfer (ET) are two very common assisted reproductive technologies (ART) in human and cattle. However, in pig, the combination of either procedures, or even their use separately, is still considered suboptimal due to the low efficiency of IVP plus the difficulty of performing ET in the long and contorted uterus of the sow. In addition, the potential impact of these two ART on the health of the offspring is unknown. We investigated here if the use of a modified IVP system, with natural reproductive fluids (RF) as supplements to the culture media, combined with a minimally invasive surgery to perform ET, affects the output of the own IVP system as well as the reproductive performance of the mother and placental molecular traits.Results: The blastocyst rates obtained by both in vitro systems, conventional (C-IVP) and modified (RF-IVP), were similar. Pregnancy and farrowing rates were also similar. However, when compared to in vivo control (artificial insemination, AI), litter sizes of both IVP groups were lower, while placental efficiency was higher in AI than in RF-IVP. Gene expression studies revealed aberrant expression levels for PEG3 and LUM in placental tissue for C-IVP group when compared to AI, but not for RF-IVP group.Conclusions: The use of reproductive fluids as additives for the culture media in pig IVP does not improve reproductive performance of recipient mothers but could mitigate the impact of artificial procedures in the offspring.

Impact of COVID-19 on Food Insecurity and Coping Mechanisms of Marginalized People in Bangladesh

2021 ◽  
pp. 241-254
Author(s):  
Emadul Islam ◽  
Ishtiaque Jahan Shoef ◽  
Mehadi Hasan
Keyword(s):  
Food Insecurity ◽  
Coping Strategies ◽  
Coping Mechanisms ◽  
Index Score ◽  
Economic Recovery ◽  
Panel Survey ◽  
Food Needs ◽  
And Coping ◽  
The Impact

This chapter is part of an extensive panel survey conducted among the BRAC COVID-19 response HHs between April 2020 to September 2020. This chapter aims to describe the food insecurity status of BRAC-supported HHs and their coping strategies to combat the impact of COVID-19. A total of 6,086 HHs were interviewed in the 1st round (April 2020-June 2020), whilst these HHs were interviewed in the 2nd round (July 2020 to September 2020). Findings reveal that COVID-19 has created an unprecedented impact on HH food insecurity. The study prepared a food index score and found that 33% of HHs are extremely food insecure, whilst 19% are highly insecure. In terms of coping strategies to the current food needs of the HHs, dependency on the personal mechanism and institutional mechanisms were identified. The study argues that the COVID-19 crisis forces HHs into long-term loan burden, which may lead to another hurdle, causing delayed HHs economic recovery. Long-term GO and NGO sustainable economic recovery intervention could help marginalized people to build back better from COVID-19.

scholarly journals SUN-715 IIM May Influence Matured Oocytes’ DNA Methylation of PCOS Patients

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Congru Li ◽  
Yang Yu
Keyword(s):  
Dna Methylation ◽  
In Vitro Fertilization ◽  
Embryonic Development ◽  
Embryo Transfer ◽  
Cpg Island ◽  
Reproductive Technologies ◽  
Childbearing Age ◽  
Vitro Fertilization ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the most common endocrine disorder in women of childbearing age and is the main cause of anovulatory infertility. To increase the number of oocytes obtained, controlled ovarian stimulation (COS) has become a routine choice for in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer (IVF-ET), which is one of the common assisted reproductive technologies for PCOS patients. However, for these patients, there is a high risk of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS). Obtaining in vitro maturation (IVM) of immature oocytes, and then in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer of mature oocytes provides a possible way for people to solve the above problems. Since the IVM technology will expose oocytes to in vitro conditions for a longer period of time, theoretically increasing the risk of the oocytes being affected by the culture environment, further research and explorations are needed for study in gene programming, epigenetics, etc. Therefore, to explore the impact of IVM operation on embryonic development is of great significance for further clarifying assisted reproductive safety and improving IVM operation conditions. Here we focused on DNA methylation reprogramming process which was essential for embryonic development. We tested the DNA methylation of sperm, IVM oocytes and IVM generated early stage embryos including pronucleus, 4cell, 8cell, morula, inner cell mass, trophoectoderm (TE) as well as six-week embryos by Nimble Gen Human DNA Methylation 3x729K CpG Island Plus RefSeq Promoter Array and compared the data with our published genome-wide DNA methylomes of human gametes and early embryos generated from in vivo maturation oocytes. We showed that IVM embryos show abnormal DNA methylation reprogramming pattern. By analyzing the abnormally reprogrammed promoters, we further found that IVM may affect the functions of demethylation related genes. Oocytes from IVM manipulation were tested with higher DNA methylation levels, and their abnormal methylated promoters mainly enriched in immune and metabolism pathways. Furthermore, we investigated the DNA methylation of TE, which was directly related with implantation process and revealed the abnormal methylated promoters were related with metabolism pathway too. Our data support that IVM may influence the DNA methylome of oocytes, which in turn affects the methylome of their embryos. However, due to the limited number of samples and the inability of the chip to cover all CpG sites, the results of this study require further research and validation.

Ovarian hormone patterns and subfertility in dairy cows

2001 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
G.E. Lamming ◽  
M.D. Royal
Keyword(s):  
Dairy Cows ◽  
Genetic Selection ◽  
Treatment Strategies ◽  
Herd Size ◽  
Early Embryo ◽  
Breeding Value ◽  
Normal Embryo ◽  
High Fertility ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact

AbstractDecreasing levels of fertility of dairy cows are occurring, associated with increased average annual milk yields, increased herd size and a decreased labour investment per animal. To-date, there has been no positive genetic selection in the UK for improved female fertility due to the lack of reliable recording of fertility traits. Selection is further limited by the low heritabilities of traditional fertility measures, which are subject to environmental influences and management decisions and biological restraints such as age and sex. Assessment of the hormone patterns of fertile cows and determination of the atypical patterns exhibited by subfertile animals provides an objective method of identifying the causes and assessing the impact of subfertility and for the development of remedial treatment strategies. This knowledge can then be used to identify potential physiological parameters associated with high fertility which, in future, may be used for sire breeding value estimations to select for more fertile offspring. Regular assessment of the progesterone concentrations in milk provides a non invasive method of determining progesterone patterns. The results of two studies of milk progesterone levels in cows taken between 1975/82 and 1995/98 involving over 3200 lactations have been analysed and compared. They indicate a major increase over this period in the proportion of animals showing atypical milk progesterone patterns before mating from 32 to 44% (P<0.001) associated with less animals inseminated, delays to conception and lower conception rates. There was a significant decrease (P<0.01) over this period in animals calving to first postpartum insemination from 57% to less than 40% a decrease of approximately l%per annum. This may indicate an increase in the level of early embryo mortality. An early post ovulatory progesterone rise to adequate luteal phase levels has been shown essential for normal embryo development with low post ovulatory levels occurring in some cows resulting in lower calving rates. Milk progesterone analysis provides a robust and reliable method of measuring progesterone patterns for identifying subfertile animals, for targeting remedial treatments to improve fertility and for investigations into heritable fertility parameters for future selection programmes.

MANAGING AN AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH PROGRAMME FOR POVERTY ALLEVIATION IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: AN INSTITUTE WITHOUT WALLS

2006 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. M. STIRLING ◽  
D. HARRIS ◽  
J. R. WITCOMBE
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Agricultural Research ◽  
Crop Improvement ◽  
Research Programme ◽  
Research Strategy ◽  
Phase Iii ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Renewable Natural Resource ◽  
The Impact

There is no one widely accepted method of managing international agricultural research and numerous different models exist. Here we review one in particular, referred to as the ‘institute without walls’, from the perspective of the UK Department for International Development's (DFID) Renewable Natural Resource (RNR) Research Strategy (1990–2006). We begin with a brief history of the RNR Research Strategy from 1990 to 2004. We then draw on nearly 15 years experience of managing one of the programmes within the RNR Research Strategy to assess critically the impact of externally and internally imposed organizational and management changes on the performance of the DFID Plant Sciences Programme (PSP). The current RNR Research Strategy (1995–2006), with its emphasis on demand-led research, has greatly increased the relevance and effectiveness of DFID's natural resources research. A comparison between the PSP in 2004 and the early 1990s inevitably concludes that the programme has been transformed: unlike in 1991, research is now firmly demand-driven, much is based in developing countries and farmers are benefiting from the research. Over time, the outputs of the long-term strategic research have been applied in practical plant breeding and participatory crop improvement programmes. Key to the success of the PSP has been the provision of continuous, long-term funding which has allowed projects time to develop and produce outputs of real value to end users. Alongside this, the ability of the PSP to build long-term, in-country partnerships has ensured the effective adoption of its research outputs. We conclude that the successes of the PSP have largely derived from (i) identification of research that is clearly demand driven, (ii) continuous long-term funding that has allowed research to move from the strategic to adaptive phase, (iii) continuity of management, and (iv) the flexibility to develop a wide range of partnerships, both in-country and overseas, based on their ability to deliver.

scholarly journals Assisted reproductive technologies: psychoneurological, moral-ethical, and socio-cultural aspects

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 104-110
Author(s):  
N. A. Tyuvina ◽  
A. O. Nikolaevskaya
Keyword(s):  
Assisted Reproductive Technologies ◽  
Reproductive Technologies ◽  
Surrogate Mother ◽  
Reproductive Process ◽  
Vitro Fertilization ◽  
Cultural Traditions ◽  
Cultural Aspects ◽  
The One ◽  
The Impact

The paper provides a definition of sexual and reproductive health and infertility and also reflects modern ideas about ways to overcome infertility using assisted reproductive technologies, such as in vitro fertilization (IVF) and surrogacy. It shows the specificity of the impact of an IVF procedure on the mental health of a potential mother. The features of the neonatal health status, as well as neuropsychiatric disorders in babies born using the IVF procedure are described. The authors present two types of surrogacy (traditional and gestational ones) and the features of their use in different countries according to governmental legislative regulation, socioeconomic and religious factors, and cultural traditions in society. They unveil the features of a psychological relationship between the mother (surrogate and presumed one) and the fetus. The consequences of surrogacy for a surrogate mother, genetic parents, and a child himself/herself are noted to be little studied. It is shown that the development of assisted reproductive technologies (IVF and surrogacy), on the one hand, helps fight infertility and, on the other hand, entails a number of problems (moral and ethical, legal, cultural and religious, socioeconomic, and neuropsychiatric ones) that need to be solved in order to prevent psychological, neurological, and mental abnormalities in all the participants (a surrogate mother, an unborn child, and potential parents) in the assisted reproductive process:

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