• Journal of Animal Environmental Science
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.39-46
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• 2008

Experiments were carried out to evaluate the air speed distribution of an enclosed growing-finishing pig house in summer and winter. The data taken by experiments were compared to validate with the calculated air speeds by a commercial CFD code, FLUENT. Air basically enters into the house through Baffled slot Inlet and leaves through a exhaust fan attached on the Exhaust fan in exiting wall of the house. Air speeds were measured as $2{\sim}2.5m/s$ at the two side slot in winter and 0.8 m/s in summer. The validation showed that a CFD simulation is one of feasible methods to predict airspeed distribution in the growing-finishing pig house.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.51 no.1
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• pp.15-24
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• 2009

Two experiments were conducted to compare the effects of different organic acids on growth performance and apparent nutrients digestibility in weaned pigs. In both the experiments, 180 pigs were assigned to four treatments with three replicates comprising of 15 pigs in each. Formic acid, ammonium-formate, lactic acid, and acid mixture were added to diets at 0.50% (Exp. 1) and 0.30% (Exp. 2) as dietary treatments for 5 and 6 wk feeding trial, respectively. The acid mixture was prepared by mixing formic acid and lactic acid at 50:50 ratios. To investigate the apparent ileal amino acids digestibility, twelve pigs (3 per treatment) were used and fitted with simple ileo-caecal T-cannula for both experiments. In Exp.1, growth performance was comparable (P>0.05) among pigs fed different organic acids, while acid mixture had higher (P<0.05) weight gain than that of lactic acid in Exp.2. The apparent ileal digestibility of amino acids was highest (P<0.05) in pigs fed acid mixture and lowest (P<0.05) in pigs fed formic acid diets in both experiments. These results indicated that supplementation with acid mixture (formic acid and lactic acid) improved performance and ileal amino acid digestibility in weaned pigs.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.13 no.8
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• pp.1154-1161
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• 2000

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the efficacy of cupric citrate (Cu-citrate) relative to cupric sulfate $(CuSO_4)$ as a Cu source for weanling and grow-finish pigs. In addition, the use of liver and bile Cu concentrations as indices of the bioavailability of Cu sources was investigated. Experiment one consisted of a nursery phase (35 d; initial BW=6.4 kg, final BW=21.4 kg) followed by a grow-finish phase (103 d; initial BW=21.5 kg, final BW=111.7 kg). Experiment two only consisted of a nursery phase (35 d; initial BW=6.3 kg, final BW=18.6 kg). Dietary treatments were identical for both experiments and consisted of: control (10 ppm $CuSO_4$); control+66 or 225 ppm $CuSO_4$; control+33, 66, or 100 ppm Cu-citrate. An antibiotic was included in diets for Exp. 1 but not Exp. 2. In both experiments, growth performance variables were similar for pigs receiving Cu-citrate and $CuSO_4$; however, growth performance was not improved by high concentrations of $CuSO_4$. Liver and bile Cu were increased (p<0.05) by 225 ppm $CuSO_4$; however, lower dietary concentrations of Cu from either $CuSO_4$ or Cu-citrate did not affect the Cu concentration of liver or bile relative to that observed in the control pigs. Irrespective of Cu source, there was no linear (p>0.10) increase in plasma Cu with increasing Cu concentrations in the diet for both experiments. However, the plasma Cu concentrations were highest (p<0.10) in pigs receiving diets supplemented with 225 ppm $CuSO_4$. Sixteen randomly chosen pigs per treatment in Exp. 1 were continued through the grow-finish phase. Body weight gain and feed intake were improved (p<0.10) by 66 ppm $CuSO_4$, but other dietary Cu treatments did not alter pig performance compared to the control diet. Plasma Cu concentrations were increased (p<0.10) by 225 ppm $CuSO_4$ in the growing phase and by 225 ppm $CuSO_4$ and 100 ppm Cu-citrate in the finishing phase. These data reveal no consistent effect of $CuSO_4$ on performance; therefore, it is difficult to assess the efficacy of these two Cu sources. In addition, these studies demonstrate that liver and bile Cu are not good indicators of Cu bioavailability in pigs fed adequate to pharmacological concentrations of Cu.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.18.1-18.5
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• 2020

Finding publications that propose alternative methods to animal experiments is an important but time-consuming task since researchers need to perform various queries to literature databases and screen many articles to assess two important aspects: the relevance of the article to the research question, and whether the article's proposed approach qualifies to being an alternative method. We are currently developing a Web application to support finding alternative methods to animal experiments. The current (under development) version of the application utilizes external tools and resources for document processing, and relies on the PubAnnotation ecosystem for annotation querying, annotation storage, dictionary-based tagging of cell lines, and annotation visualization. Currently, our two PubAnnotation repositories for discourse elements contain annotations for more than 110k PubMed documents. Further, we created an annotator for cell lines that contain more than 196k terms from Cellosaurus. Finally, we are experimenting with TextAE for annotation visualization and for user feedback.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.15 no.9
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• pp.1319-1325
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• 2002

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of early feed restriction on growth, feed conversion ratio (FCR) and mortality in unsexed broiler chickens. In Experiment 1, 350 one-day-old broiler chickens were divided into 7 groups. Each treatment group was represented by five replicates of ten broilers each. One group was fed ad libitum as the control group and the other six groups were fed 25% ad libitum (25% multiplied by amount of feed intake of ad libitum chickens at the previous day) for 4 or 6 days, 50% ad libitum for 4 or 6 days, and 75% ad libitum for 4 or 6 days. In experiment 2, 500 broiler chickens were divided into 10 groups. Each treatment group was represented by five replicates of ten broilers each. One group was fed ad libitum as the control group. Three ages of feed restriction initial timing (2, 4 or 6 days of age) and three types of feed restriction (physical restriction, meal feeding and diet dilution) were used ($3{\times}3$) in both experiments. They were feed-restricted for 6 days. Results showed that restricted broilers exhibited compensatory growth in both experiments except for diet dilution groups. In both experiments, FCR of restricted broilers was higher, whereas feed intake of them was lower during restriction period. FCR of restricted broilers was lower upon refeeding. Mortality was inconsistently affected by early feed restriction. Leg abnormality was lower in restricted broilers in both experiments. Level of feed restriction significantly influenced body weight, FCR and feed intake of restricted broilers (p<0.05), but duration of feed restriction had no effect. Type of restriction significantly affected body weight, feed intake and FCR (p<0.05). It appeared that to achieve the best result (complete compensatory growth and better FCR), broilers should be restricted at 25% ad libitum for 6 days (Experiment 1). Meal feeding started at 2 days of age would show the best performance (Experiment 2).

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.305-311
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• 1993

A total of thirty male Holstein calves were reared outdoors with simple housings or in warmed pens in three experiments conducted in three consecutive midwinters in Hokkaido. Average outdoor air temperatures during the experiments were between -5.3 and $-6.1^{\circ}C$, and average minimum air temperatures were between -9.7 and $-10.6^{\circ}C$. The age of calves at the start of the experiments were $16{\pm}6$ hours. There was no difference in the liquid feed intake, while the solid concentrate (artificial milk) intake by the calves in the simple housing systems (outdoors, calf hutch and open shed) tended to be higher than those in the warmed pen. No significant differences in the daily gain or the monthly development of wither height were observed among housing systems. There were no serious cases of diarrhea. However, coughing was observed in several of the calves reared in the poorly ventilated warmed pens.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.31
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• pp.26.1-26.9
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• 2016

Objectives Korea's Act on the Registration and Evaluation of Chemicals (K-REACH) was enacted for the protection of human health and the environment in 2015. Considering that about 2000 new substances are introduced annually across the globe, the extent of animal testing requirement could be overwhelming unless regulators and companies work proactively to institute and enforce global best practices to replace, reduce or refine animal use. In this review, the way to reduce the animal use for K-REACH is discussed. Methods Background of the enforcement of the K-REACH and its details was reviewed along with the papers and regulatory documents regarding the limitation of animal experiments and its alternatives in order to discuss the regulatory adoption of alternative tests. Results Depending on the tonnage of the chemical used, the data required ranges from acute and other short-term studies for a single exposure route to testing via multiple exposure routes and costly, longer-term studies such as a full two-generation reproducibility toxicity. The European Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals regulation provides for mandatory sharing of vertebrate test data to avoid unnecessary duplication of animal use and test costs, and obligation to revise data requirements and test guidelines "as soon as possible" after relevant, validated replacement, reduction or refinement (3R) methods become available. Furthermore, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development actively accepts alternative animal tests and 3R to chemical toxicity tests. Conclusions Alternative tests which are more ethical and efficient than animal experiments should be widely used to assess the toxicity of chemicals for K-REACH registration. The relevant regulatory agencies will have to make efforts to actively adopt and uptake new alternative tests and 3R to K-REACH.

• Journal of Animal Reproduction and Biotechnology
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.123-129
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• 2019

Many transcription factors are involved in directing the growth of porcine oocytes. The localization and expression level of a given transcription factor often differ at each stage of early embryonic growth, which spans from fertilization to the formation of the blastocyst. A hallmark of the blastocyst stage is the separation of the endodermal and mesodermal ectoderm. The embryo's medium and its effects are known to be crucial during early development compared to the other developmental stages, and thus require a lot of caution. Therefore, in many experiments, early development is divided into the quality of oocyte and cumulus cells and used in experiments. We thought that we were also heavily influenced by genetic reasons. Here, we examined the expression patterns of five key transcription factors (CDX2, OCT4, SOX2, NANOG, and E-CADHERIN) during porcine oocyte development whose expression patterns are controversial in the pig to the literature. Antibodies against these transcription factors were used to determine the expression and localization of them during the early development of pig embryos. These results indicate that the expressions of key transcription factors are generally similar in mouse and pig early developing embryos, but NANOG and SOX2 expression appears to show speciesspecific differences between pig and mouse developing embryos. This work helps us better understand how the expression patterns of transcription factors translate into developmental effects and processes, and how the expression and localization of different transcription factors can crucially impact oocyte growth and downstream developmental processes.

• Journal of Animal Environmental Science
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.111-116
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• 1996

An experiment was carried out to study the effect of environmental color on the eating behaviour in broiler chicks. A total of ninety broilers with average 350g of initial body weight were randomly assigned in the $3{\times}3$ randomized complete block design with 3 treatments(yellow, blue, red) and 10 birds per replication of various environmental color at walls, feeders and electric bulbs. The results obtained from these experiments are summarised as follows: 1. Feed Intake and average daily gain were significantly(P<0.05) increased by yellow colored environment. 2. Eating time and eating rate were significantly higher in the red colored than the other, indicating that yellow colored environment would maximize body weight gain and feed conversion for broiler chicks.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.811-816
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• 2000

Five experiments were conducted to evaluate blood urea nitrogen (BUN) as a potential index of feed efficiency (G/F) and lean growth in growing-finishing pigs. Exp. 1 was conducted to examine the relationship between feeding protocol and BUN values. Fasted-refed pigs exhibited BUN peaks 3 h post-prandially while those given ad libitum access to diet had inconsistent BUN patterns in 10 h blood sampling with an 1 h interval. In Exp. 2 and 3, it was revealed that the peak BUN values were negatively correlated (p<0.01) with G/F in both barrows and gilts at 20 kg body weight (BW) and 50 kg to 90 kg BW. In Exp. 4, it was found that BUN values between 55 kg and 70 kg BW, when lean gain is maximized, were best correlated with average daily lean gain (ADLG). In Exp. 5, 18 barrows and 21 gilts were used to examine the relationship between BUN values at 65 kg BW and ADLG from birth to market weight. The BUN values at 65 kg BW and ADLG were negatively correlated (p<0.01) in both genders. These experiments demonstrated that there was a correlation between peak BUN values, and G/F and ADLG under specific circumstances.