Wisconsin Study Research Articles

Greenhouse gas emissions from soils in corn-based cropping systems.

Crop rotation is a management practice with high greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigating potential that is often neglected due to economic influences. Three long-term rotation studies in Wisconsin were selected to assess the potential opportunities for mitigating GHG emissions by comparing the temporal and spatial variability of N2 O, CO2 , and CH4 emissions in continuous corn (CC) (Zea mays L.), corn-soybean (CS) [Glycine max (L.) Merr.], and corn-soybean-wheat (CSW) (Triticum aestivum L.) using a static chamber method. GHG emissions were influenced by weather conditions and following nitrogen (N) application during a 3-year measurement period. In high N input environments at Arlington and Lancaster, N2 O emissions in CC were 5.80 and 4.40kg N ha-1 , respectively, which was much higher than the emissions in CS and CSW rotations that ranged from 1.52 to 3.33kg N ha-1 . In the low N input environment at Marshfield, N2 O emissions were not statistically different among CC, CS, and CSW rotations (1.20-1.66kg N ha-1 ). Yield-scaled N2 O emissions were not different among crop rotations. When pooled over locations, CO2 emissions were highest in CC (4.16 Mg C ha-1 ) and were similar in CS and CSW (3.71 and 3.50 Mg C ha-1 , respectively). Soils either emitted or absorbed small and inconsistent amounts of CH4 . These results provide important insights as to how weather conditions and differences among management practices affect GHG emissions and show that application of either 2-year CS or 3-year CSW rotation can be equally effective in reducing N2 O emissions compared to CC, especially with high N applications.

Self-Reported Hearing Loss Is Associated With Poorer Health Care Access, Delays, and Communication With Providers During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Findings From the Survey of the Health of Wisconsin COVID-19 Community Impact Survey.

This article aimed to evaluate associations of self-reported hearing loss with health care access and delays and difficulties communicating with health care providers during the COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 Community Impact Survey was administered online to a sample of participants from the population-based Survey of the Health of Wisconsin study cohort in Spring 2021. Hearing loss was defined as self-reported fair or poor hearing. Difficulty with health care access and delays were defined as self-reporting needing but not getting medical care or self-reporting delays in appointments due to COVID-19, respectively. Poor communication with health care providers was defined as self-reported difficulties communicating with health care providers due to wearing a mask during the COVID-19 pandemic. Logistic regression models were used to evaluate associations between hearing loss and the health care outcomes. Results are presented as odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs). First, models were adjusted for age and sex. Next, models were additionally adjusted for education, race/ethnicity, self-rated health, and number of chronic conditions. This study included 1,582 participants (62.3% women; 11.9% non-White; age range: 18-75+ years). The number of participants with hearing loss was 196 (12.4%). After multivariable adjustment, self-reported hearing loss was associated with poorer health care access (OR = 2.41, 95% CI [1.62, 3.59]), health care delays (OR = 1.93, 95% CI [1.37, 2.71]), and increased difficulty communicating with health care providers wearing face masks (OR = 3.31, 95% CI [2.15, 5.08]) during the COVID-19 pandemic. The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on difficulties accessing and using health care are likely exacerbated for individuals with hearing loss. There is a need for interventions that will optimize health care experiences for individuals with hearing loss, particularly when face masks and/or telecommunications are used to provide health care services.

Pretransplant C-peptide Levels and Pancreas Transplant Outcomes: Risk and Reward.

We read with interest the report by Parajuli et al1, chronicling the University of Wisconsin experience in simultaneous pancreas-kidney transplantation (SPKT) according to the pretransplant fasting serum C-peptide levels. The authors demonstrated that higher pretransplant C-peptide levels predicted the risk of a composite outcome (combination of pancreas graft failure according to the United Network for Organ Sharing definition and pancreas graft dysfunction defined as initiation of any antidiabetic agent) posttransplant in patients with a type 2 diabetes phenotype.1,2 Recipients were categorized into 3 groups based on pretransplant fasting serum C-peptide levels: low (≤2 ng/mL, n = 14), medium (>2–8 ng/mL, n = 47), and high (>8 ng/mL, n = 15). The uncensored composite outcome of pancreas graft failure or dysfunction occurred in 0% in the low, 23% in the medium, and 33% of patients in the high C-peptide groups, respectively, suggesting that higher levels of pretransplant C-peptide are associated with inferior posttransplant outcomes. These findings confirm our recent report based on a case-controlled, single-center, retrospective study of 46 SPKT patients with pretransplant fasting serum C-peptide levels ≥2.0 ng/mL compared with 46 control patients (C-peptide level <0.5 ng/mL) matched for recipient age, gender, race, and transplant date.3 In our study, we likewise reported inferior mid-term outcomes in the group with higher pretransplant C-peptide levels. In our overall SPKT experience, we have 205 patients with a minimum of 5-y follow-up. Using the above C-peptide categories as per the Wisconsin study, we identified 166 patients in the low, 32 patients in the medium, and 7 patients in the high C-peptide groups. Five-y actual (uncensored) patient and graft survival rates were as follows: patient (91% low versus 93.8% medium versus 85.7% high) and kidney (80.7% versus 71.9% versus 71.4%), respectively. Using the composite end point of pancreas graft failure or dysfunction, pancreas outcomes were 25.3% low versus 34.4% medium versus 71.4% high C-peptide (P = 0.10). Similar to the Wisconsin study, we are limited by the small sample size in the high pretransplant C-peptide group but the findings indicate a trend toward a greater need for supplemental antidiabetic therapy in patients with higher pretransplant C-peptide levels. Unfortunately, what is missing from these studies is a better characterization of patients with partial pancreas allograft function (dysfunction) who continue to be free from wide glycemic excursions and do not experience hypoglycemia (despite the need for antidiabetic therapy) because of preserved counterregulatory function of the pancreas allograft.4 In our experience, we identified posttransplant weight gain, insulin resistance, and rejection as potential mitigating factors to explain these inferior outcomes. Consequently, we recommend greater emphasis on weight management strategies, behavioral modification, nutritional counseling, structured physical training programs, timely adjustments in (and use of less diabetogenic) immunosuppression, more intense long-term monitoring by the transplant center, and increased use of novel antidiabetic agents such as Glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists and Sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors when indicated in this unique population. We congratulate the authors on this excellent study and agree that these findings should not be an impetus to limit access to pancreas transplantation but rather help guide clinical decision-making and optimize posttransplant management.

Community corrections at a critical juncture: Privatisation, race, and the redefinition of the community after Attica

AbstractCritical junctures can propel a reorientation of state, civil society, and market. I examine this process during an influential historical moment in the early 1970s, when actors ranging from incarcerated organisers to political elites worked to redefine the role of community organisations in corrections. These efforts resulted in a policy privatising the delivery of community‐based correctional services in the case I study in Wisconsin, USA. Using archival records, I demonstrate how this policy was situated in leaders’ anxieties about the control of Black men. I trace historically emergent relationships among racialised social control, privatisation and NGOs, which reverberate in the non‐profit sector today. The research invites further examination of moments of contingency in criminal justice policy after exceptional violence by the state.

A BA (Hons) in “Curb your Enthusiasm”? The Campus Novel Today

A <scp>BA</scp> (Hons) in “Curb your Enthusiasm”? The Campus Novel Today

Mortality Rates by Age Group and Intubation Status in Hospitalized Adult Patients From 21 United States Hospital Systems During Three Surges of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Mortality Rates by Age Group and Intubation Status in Hospitalized Adult Patients From 21 United States Hospital Systems During Three Surges of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Deborah Kamen, Insults in Classical Athens. (Wisconsin Studies in Classics.) Madison, WI, University of Wisconsin Press 2020

Article Deborah Kamen, Insults in Classical Athens. (Wisconsin Studies in Classics.) Madison, WI, University of Wisconsin Press 2020 was published on October 1, 2022 in the journal Historische Zeitschrift (volume 315, issue 2).

Smoking Status, Nicotine Medication, Vaccination, and COVID-19 Hospital Outcomes: Findings from the COVID EHR Cohort at the University of Wisconsin (CEC-UW) Study.

IntroductionAvailable evidence is mixed concerning associations between smoking status and COVID-19 clinical outcomes. Effects of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) and vaccination status on COVID-19 outcomes in smokers are unknown.MethodsElectronic health record data from 104 590 COVID-19 patients hospitalized February 1, 2020 to September 30, 2021 in 21 U.S. health systems were analyzed to assess associations of smoking status, in-hospital NRT prescription, and vaccination status with in-hospital death and ICU admission.ResultsCurrent (n = 7764) and never smokers (n = 57 454) did not differ on outcomes after adjustment for age, sex, race, ethnicity, insurance, body mass index, and comorbidities. Former (vs never) smokers (n = 33 101) had higher adjusted odds of death (aOR, 1.11; 95% CI, 1.06–1.17) and ICU admission (aOR, 1.07; 95% CI, 1.04–1.11). Among current smokers, NRT prescription was associated with reduced mortality (aOR, 0.64; 95% CI, 0.50–0.82). Vaccination effects were significantly moderated by smoking status; vaccination was more strongly associated with reduced mortality among current (aOR, 0.29; 95% CI, 0.16–0.66) and former smokers (aOR, 0.47; 95% CI, 0.39–0.57) than for never smokers (aOR, 0.67; 95% CI, 0.57, 0.79). Vaccination was associated with reduced ICU admission more strongly among former (aOR, 0.74; 95% CI, 0.66–0.83) than never smokers (aOR, 0.87; 95% CI, 0.79–0.97).ConclusionsFormer but not current smokers hospitalized with COVID-19 are at higher risk for severe outcomes. SARS-CoV-2 vaccination is associated with better hospital outcomes in COVID-19 patients, especially current and former smokers. NRT during COVID-19 hospitalization may reduce mortality for current smokers.ImplicationsPrior findings regarding associations between smoking and severe COVID-19 disease outcomes have been inconsistent. This large cohort study suggests potential beneficial effects of nicotine replacement therapy on COVID-19 outcomes in current smokers and outsized benefits of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in current and former smokers. Such findings may influence clinical practice and prevention efforts and motivate additional research that explores mechanisms for these effects.

Mechanisms for Expanding Harm Reduction for Opioid Use in Suburban and Rural U.S. Settings

The availability and adoption of Syringe Services Programs (SSPs) depends heavily on the towns and counties charged with implementing and sustaining these programs. Suburban and rural areas especially lack the community and political support for SSPs. We examined key informant in-depth interview data among professionals providing harm reduction services as well as some health department directors, doctors, and law enforcement officers from a three-state (Connecticut, Kentucky, and Wisconsin) study. Results revealed the challenges and emerging solutions for expanding harm reduction services in suburban and rural areas. Additional comparisons of experiences of those working in urban areas were highlighted. Overall, there were widespread similarities in challenges across the three states for providing harm reduction services in rural and suburban settings. Findings revealed potential directions to address the identified barriers and community-supported ideas to improve harm reduction efforts.

Social capital's impact on COVID-19 outcomes at local levels

Over the past thirty years, disaster scholars have highlighted that communities with stronger social infrastructure—including social ties that enable trust, mutual aid, and collective action—tend to respond to and recover better from crises. However, comprehensive measurements of social capital across communities have been rare. This study adapts Kyne and Aldrich’s (Risk Hazards Crisis Public Policy11, 61–86, 2020) county-level social capital index to the census-tract level, generating social capital indices from 2011 to 2018 at the census-tract, zipcode, and county subdivision levels. To demonstrate their usefulness to disaster planners, public health experts, and local officials, we paired these with the CDC’s Social Vulnerability Index to predict the incidence of COVID-19 in case studies in Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Illinois, and New York City. We found that social capital predicted 41–49% of the variation in COVID-19 outbreaks, and up to 90% with controls in specific cases, highlighting its power as diagnostic and predictive tools for combating the spread of COVID.

A Tutorial on Generative Adversarial Networks with Application to Classification of Imbalanced Data.

A challenge unique to classification model development is imbalanced data. In a binary classification problem, class imbalance occurs when one class, the minority group, contains significantly fewer samples than the other class, the majority group. In imbalanced data, the minority class is often the class of interest (e.g., patients with disease). However, when training a classifier on imbalanced data, the model will exhibit bias towards the majority class and, in extreme cases, may ignore the minority class completely. A common strategy for addressing class imbalance is data augmentation. However, traditional data augmentation methods are associated with overfitting, where the model is fit to the noise in the data. In this tutorial we introduce an advanced method for data augmentation: Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs). The advantages of GANs over traditional data augmentation methods are illustrated using the Breast Cancer Wisconsin study. To promote the adoption of GANs for data augmentation, we present an end-to-end pipeline that encompasses the complete life cycle of a machine learning project along with alternatives and good practices both in the paper and in a separate video. Our code, data, full results and video tutorial are publicly available in the paper's github repository.

Cost-effectiveness of stop smoking incentives for medicaid-enrolled pregnant women

Maternal smoking increases mortality and morbidity risks for both mother and infant. The First Breath Wisconsin study examined the cost-effectiveness of providing incentives to pregnant women who smoked to engage in stop smoking treatment. Participants (N = 1014) were Medicaid-enrolled pregnant women recruited from September 2012 to April 2015 through public health departments, private, and community health clinics in Wisconsin. The incentive group (n = 505) could receive $460 for completing pre-birth visits ($25 each), post-birth home visits ($40, $25, $25, $40 for 1-week, 2-month, 4-month and 6-month visits), monthly smoking cessation phone calls post-birth ($20 each), and biochemically-verified tobacco abstinence at 1-week ($40) and 6-months ($40) post-birth. The control group (n = 509) received up to $80 for 1-week ($40) and 6-month ($40) post-birth assessments. Intervention costs included incentive payments to participants, counselor and administrative staff time, and smoking cessation medications. Cost-effectiveness analysis calculated the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) per one additional smoker who quit. The incentive group had higher 6-month post-birth biochemically-confirmed tobacco abstinence than the control group (14.7% vs. 9.2%). Incremental costs averaged $184 per participant for the incentive group compared to controls ($317 vs $133). The ICER of financial incentives was $3399 (95% CI $2228 to $8509) per additional woman who was tobacco abstinent at 6 months post-birth. The ICER was lower ($2518 vs $4760) for women who did not live with another smoker. This study shows use of financial incentives for stop smoking treatment is a cost-effective option for low-income pregnant women who smoke.

Toward the assessment of adverse adult experiences: An initial validation study of the adult experiences survey.

The current investigation is a validation study of the Adult Experiences Survey, a seminal assessment of adverse adult experiences. Data were collected between July 2015 and June 2019 from a sample of 1,747 low-income women as part of a longitudinal study in Wisconsin, United States. Analyses of 10 adversities were conducted to assess item prevalence and internal consistency in the full sample and test-retest reliability in a subsample of 90 participants. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were performed to examine the factor structure of the measure, and multivariate regressions were conducted to estimate the effects of adult adversity on 3 health-related outcomes: poor physical health, depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder. Most participants (86%) endorsed at least 1 adversity. Each item demonstrated good test-retest reliability except crime victimization, and the full measure had sound internal consistency. Each adversity was associated with all health-related outcomes at the bivariate level, and most were linked to 1 or more outcomes in multivariate analyses. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses validated 1- and 2-factor solutions with good fit. A cumulative adult adversity score was associated with all study outcomes controlling for adverse childhood experiences, and effects associated with a latent adversity score were even larger in magnitude. Extending research on adverse childhood experiences, the findings indicate that adverse adult experiences can be measured reliably and validly using a brief assessment. Implications are discussed, including opportunities to advance the study of trauma and resilience over the life course. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Newborn Screening for Severe Combined Immunodeficiency: 10-Year Experience at a Single Referral Center (2009-2018).

In 2008, newborn screening (NBS) for severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) began as a pilot study in Wisconsin and has recently been added to every state's newborn screen panel. The incidence of SCID is estimated at 1 per 58,000 births which may suggest infrequent NBS SCID screen positive results in states with low annual birth rates. In this study, we report our center's experience with NBS positive SCID screen referrals over a 10-year period. A total of 68 full-term newborns were referred to our center for confirmatory testing. Of these referrals, 50% were false positives, 12% were SCID diagnoses, 20% syndromic T cell lymphopenia (TCL) disorders, and 18% non-SCID, non-syndromic TCL. Through collaboration with our newborn screening lab, second-tier targeted gene sequencing was performed for newborns with SCID screen positive results from communities with known founder pathogenic variants and provided rapid genetic confirmation of SCID and non-SCID TCL disorders. Despite extensive genetic testing, two of the eight (25%) identified newborns with SCID diagnoses lacked a definable genetic defect. Additionally, our referrals included ten newborns who were otherwise healthy newborns with idiopathic TCL and varied CD3+ T cell number longitudinal trajectories. Collectively, referrals to our single site over a 10-year period describe a broad spectrum of medically actionable and idiopathic TCL disorders which highlight the importance of clinical immunology expertise in all states, demonstrate efficiencies and challenges for second-tier genetic testing, and further emphasize the need to development standardized evaluation algorithms for non-SCID TCL.

Won't You Be My Neighbor? Uncovering ties between Social Capital and COVID-19 Outcomes at Local Levels

Over the past thirty years, disaster scholars have highlighted that communities with stronger social infrastructure - including social ties that enable trust, mutual aid, and collective action - tend to respond to and recover better from crisis. However, comprehensive measurements of social capital across communities have been rare. This study adapts Kyne and Aldrich’s (2019) county-level social capital index to the census-tract level, generating social capital indices from 2011 to 2018 at the census-tract, zipcode, and county subdivision levels. To demonstrate their usefulness to disaster planners, public health experts, and local officials, we paired these with the CDC’s Social Vulnerability Index to predict the incidence of COVID-19 in case studies in Massachusetts, Wisconsin, and Illinois. We found that social capital and social vulnerability predicted as much as 95% of the variation in COVID outbreaks, highlighting their power as diagnostic and predictive tools for combating the spread of COVID.

Alfalfa establishment by interseeding with silage corn projected to increase profitability of corn silage–alfalfa rotations

AbstractCorn (Zea mays L.) silage and alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) rotations dominate dairy forage production in temperate regions, but low yields during establishment of spring seeded alfalfa limits productivity and profitability. Interseeding alfalfa with corn silage is a novel establishment method that could enhance environmental quality, alfalfa production, and farm income, but it also incurs additional costs. Forage yields derived from long‐term field studies in Wisconsin along with feed values and input costs from 2012 to 2017 were used to predict net returns of corn silage–alfalfa rotation sequences that utilized conventional spring seeding or interseeding for alfalfa establishment and cereal rye (Secale cereal L.) as a winter cover crop following corn silage. Interseeded rotations yielded annual net return of $303 to $367 ha−1, with a 3‐yr corn and 3‐yr alfalfa sequence identified as the most profitable. Conventional rotations provided lower annual net returns of $260 to $320 ha−1 and the most profitable was a 4‐yr corn and 4‐yr alfalfa sequence. Sensitivity analyses demonstrated that interseeded alfalfa had a robust economic benefit, with increased net returns obtained when the corn yield penalty was limited to less than 20% or the success rate of alfalfa establishment exceeded 49% of attempts for the most profitable interseeded rotation sequence. A plant protective chemical application to interseeded alfalfa provided a net economic benefit if it increased the success rate of alfalfa establishment by at least 16%. Interseeding alfalfa into corn silage is predicted to enhance profitability of corn–alfalfa based cropping systems.

Language and Authority in De Lingua Latina: Varro’s Guide to Being Roman by Diana Spencer

Reviewed by: Language and Authority in De Lingua Latina: Varro’s Guide to Being Roman by Diana Spencer Joseph McAlhany Diana Spencer. Language and Authority in De Lingua Latina: Varro’s Guide to Being Roman. Wisconsin Studies in Classics. Madison, Wisconsin: The University of Wisconsin Press, 2019. Pp. xxix, 387. $119.95. ISBN 978-0-299-32320-2. In this dizzying and at times exhilarating study, Spencer offers a novel reading of Varro’s De Lingua Latina intended to reveal its latent possibilities and sociopolitical implications. A writer of panache whose prose shows dashes of Hendersonian wit, Spencer subjects various passages of the LL to what she describes as “through-reading,” attentive to the text’s “associative possibilities” and “loud silences” (55). The ultimate claim is that Varro constructed the LL in a way that demands the reader follow “leaps of imagination” (78), because he intended to write far more than an etymological encyclopedia or an unwieldy meditation on Latinitas. Rather, he wished to educate his readers, the ideal of whom is Cicero, in “Romespeak,” a mode of discourse (or a “uniquely authoritative skillset,” 67) that recognizes Latin’s past roots but lays out a way forward to political consensus. The utility of Varro’s project is thus to provide a “toolkit” (a term used frequently by Spencer) for the mastery of “Romespeak,” or, as the subtitle has it, a guide to being Roman. [End Page 104] The argument is suggestive rather than convincing, and as Spencer allows, her readings at times require an acute sensitivity to when Varro avoids an “obvious and contextually relevant narrative catalyst” (85). The method shines in close readings of individual passages, and even when she might be accused of Olympian triple-jumps, it is far better that Spencer be overly daring as a corrective to earlier readings constrained by scholarly tradition, based upon Varro’s reputation as a mere Übermittler. Instead, Spencer’s Varro is a middleman of a more interesting sort, always negotiating between Rome’s linguistic past and political future, between the authority of elite oratory and poetry and the power of popular usage. While roughly following the surviving books of the LL in order, the chapters are arranged thematically to highlight the “literary and metapoetic quality of Varro’s organization” (80). Varro’s own structuring principles, from divine to human and cosmos to street-corner, are largely set aside. After a detailed outline of the LL’s surviving books (“A Roadmap for a Ruinous Text,” xi–xxix), the Introduction (3–18) gives a helpful overview of the book, reprised in a Conclusion (“Ending Up With Varro,” 248–260). After chapter 1’s admittedly imaginative and rather breezy biographical overview, teasing out Varro’s politics and his relation with Cicero, chapter 2 opens with the thesis of the book: the LL “led Varro’s audience on a journey of discourse enrichment, at the end of which all Rome-speakers could contribute actively and consciously to a consensual civic ideal” (42). The remaining chapters, each with numerous subsections, work their way through various passages of the LL. Chapter 3 analyzes etymologies associated with poetic creation and authority (e.g., fingo, cano, carmen), while chapter 4 is a proper “through-reading” of the LL on oratio, sermo, and double-sided lego, evidence for Varro’s privileging of dialogue over monologue in his development of a linguistic as well as civic “consensus model.” The remaining chapters become increasingly diffuse. Chapter 5 covers Varro’s etymological landscape of Rome, in particular the seven hills (“Sevenheights”) and the religious procession of the Argei, less an authoritative account of the city’s history than a demonstration of its fluidity. Chapter 6 traces the notions of order found in the etymologies of political and religious magistracies, while chapter 7 is a sprawling examination of “family” relations in grammatical terminology, the Trojan legend, gods, time-words, and word-pairs such as lupus/lepus and socer/macer. The final main chapter, “Varro’s Fasti,” explores in a free-form commentary the etymologies of Rome’s religious festivals. In spinning out webs of possible associations, Spencer stretches the threads of her interpretation to tenuous extremes, and clever observation often substitutes for coherent...

Analysis on residential density dynamics in USA-a case study in southeast Wisconsin

Residential development was a dynamic and complex process along with urbanization. Suitable residential density has become the core content of urban densification, which promote local prosperity and the sustainability of the urban landscape. Much recent research has examined residential expansion, but less attention has been paid to dynamics among different residential densities, which was a significant indicator of urban densification and greatly related to the city’s livability. This paper focused on the residential density dynamics and its driving forces in southeastern Wisconsin. Our results revealed that low density was the main residential pattern, and that increasing suburban density was a very common characteristic among all counties from 1990 to 2010. The significant drivers of residential densities included the perfection degree of urban function, water supply service, access to existing urban and residential areas, and the elevation. The significant drivers varied from the distance to historical center and among counties. The results highlighted the importance of perfection degree of urban function as an essential factor to explain the residential density dynamics. Accordingly, the regulation of urban function and carrying capacity also become a powerful tool for controlling suitable residential density, which was essential for the urban planning and real estate industry.

Effect of dietary fat and sucrose consumption on cardiac fibrosis in mice and rhesus monkeys.

Calorie restriction (CR) improved health span in 2 longitudinal studies in nonhuman primates (NHPs), yet only the University of Wisconsin (UW) study demonstrated an increase in survival in CR monkeys relative to controls; the National Institute on Aging (NIA) study did not. Here, analysis of left ventricle samples showed that CR did not reduce cardiac fibrosis relative to controls. However, there was a 5.9-fold increase of total fibrosis in UW hearts, compared with NIA hearts. Diet composition was a prominent difference between the studies; therefore, we used the NHP diets to characterize diet-associated molecular and functional changes in the hearts of mice. Consistent with the findings from the NHP samples, mice fed a UW or a modified NIA diet with increased sucrose and fat developed greater cardiac fibrosis compared with mice fed the NIA diet, and transcriptomics analysis revealed diet-induced activation of myocardial oxidative phosphorylation and cardiac muscle contraction pathways.

40 Alternative forages for dairy heifers

Abstract Dairy heifers have moderate energy needs with diets containing high proportions of corn silage, often exceeding needs of pregnant heifers. Use of moderate energy forages to decrease energy and increase NDF content has been successful to control intake and growth of pregnant heifers. Several forages could be used, including cereal grain forages/straws, warm season perennial grasses, sorghum forages, and corn stover. Higher NDF content diets control intake through rumen fill as heifers eat approximately 1% of bodyweight in NDF daily. Research at the University of Wisconsin found reduced intakes and more desirable gains for pregnant heifers fed diets that included either corn stover, wheat straw, or eastern gamagrass (0.8–1.0 kg gain/day) compared with heifers fed an alfalfa/corn silage diet (1.2 kg gain/day). A study feeding alfalfa stemlage also found that heifers had more desirable gains (0.9–1.0 kg/day) when fed diets with stemlage or straw than heifers fed an alfalfa/corn silage diet. Sorghum forages may also work to partially replace corn silage in the forage program, with an opportunity to double-crop with cereal grain forages. Wisconsin studies show that sorghum forages can have similar or greater yields than corn silage when planted in early to mid-June and harvested once in the fall, with sorghums being more responsive to irrigation and nitrogen than corn. Most sorghums had similar or greater yields than corn silage when fertilized at 22–45 kg N/acre or irrigated at 50–75% of levels recommended for corn. A recent study found heifers fed sorghum-sudangrass silage based diets had lower intakes due to higher NDF content leading to more optimal daily gains (0.9 kg/d) than heifers fed a corn silage/alfalfa silage/grass hay diet that had similar protein and energy content, but was lower in NDF content. Use of alternative forages can help control nutrient intake and thus growth, and can also help control costs and improve nutrient/manure management by lowering intakes and forage production costs.