The Press-Dispatch
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The Press-Dispatch Pike County Planter SWCD Newsletter November and December 2015 D- 5 The Pike County Planter is a great place to advertise your agri- business! This is targeted advertising at its best! The Dispatch Press PIKE COUNTY'S NEWS NETWORK be SEEN IN THE pd CALL JOHN, CINDY, PAM OR FRAN TODAY at 812-354-8500 to see how your business can be seen in 5,000 households. Plus, your ad is available online for no additional charge on NetEdition. CALL NOW! By Emil Venere Purdue News Service venere@purdue.edu A team of researchers has demon- strated a new type of imaging system that reveals the chemical composition of living tissue for medical diagnostics and cellular studies. The development is potentially important because knowing the chemical content of tissue is needed for early detection of disease, and the system also can be used to study mo- lecular dynamics in living cells as they are occurring, said Ji-Xin Cheng, a professor in Purdue's Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering and De- partment of Chemistr y and Scientific Director of the Label-free Imaging lab at Purdue's Discover y Park. Conventional imaging technologies such as magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography do not reveal the chemical composition of tissues, he said. Although optical spectroscopy has been routinely used to study mol- ecules in a sample cell, it is currently not practical to perform in-vivo spec- troscopy, or the analysis of how light interacts with molecules in living tis- sue. This is because photons strongly scatter when light shines through tissues, making detection of the signal through a spectrometer inefficient, Cheng said. "Our technique overcomes this problem," he said. Findings are detailed in a research paper appearing online on Friday (Oct. 30) in the journal Science Advances. The new technique works by "coding" individual photons from a pulsing laser with a megahertz radio frequency and then collecting those photons with a detector after they have interacted with tissue. The system was demonstrated in human breast cancer detection. Ordinarily, the cancer tissue samples would have to be processed for histological exami- nation, which could take up to a week. The new technology yields results in about two seconds. The technique also was used to map vitamin E in the skin of labora- tor y mice. "People use vitamin E on their skin as a topical treatment, and, like any drug, we would like to know where it goes after it is applied to study drug deliver y mechanisms," Cheng said. "We converted Raman spectroscopy, which is generally used to study mol- ecules in solutions or fixed tissues, to an in-vivo imaging platform that is able to monitor how a living cell executes its functions in real time. It's a proof of concept. The approach al- lows us to get a spectrum of individual molecules, revealing the chemical composition of the tissues." The innovation offers "label-free" detection, or imaging that does not require the use of fluorescent dyes or other preparations to detect structures and features. Because processing kills the tissue and is time- consuming, the label-free technology allows the study of unaltered living tis- sues and cells, making for more rapid and accurate studies, Cheng said. The system was developed with a $1 million W.M. Keck Foundation grant to Cheng and his team. The Science Advances paper was authored by graduate student Chien- Sheng Liao, postdoctoral researchers Pu Wang and Ping Wang; graduate students Junjie Li and Hyeon Jeong Lee; instrumentation specialist Gregor y Eakins; and Cheng. The work is ongoing, with future research exploring development of an "imaging pen" to quickly analyze surfaces for traces of explosives for homeland security applications and to monitor human tissue for disease and infection and to help surgeons determine whether any diseased tissue remains after cancer surger y, Cheng said. Based in Los Angeles, the W.M. Keck Foundation was established in 1954 by the late W.M. Keck, founder of Superior Oil Co. The foundation's grant making is focused primarily on pioneering efforts in the areas of medical research, science and engi- neering and undergraduate educa- tion. More information is available at http://www.wmkeck.org Ji-Xin Cheng leads a Purdue team demonstrating a new imag- ing technology developed with a $1 million W.M. Keck Foundation grant. The technology could bring advanced medical diagnostics. Vincent Walter/Purdue University image New imaging technology is advance for medical diagnostics, research Economist: Profit isn't just about cost per acre By Jennifer Stewart-Burton Purdue News Ser vice Corn and soybean growers should not scrimp on crop inputs because of lower grain prices and tightening profit margins, a Purdue University agricultural economist says. Michael Gunderson , associate professor and associate director for Purdue's Center for Food and Agricultural Business, said cutting corners on inputs can be more costly for producers because of yield reduc - tions. "The current commodity price climate might cause crop producers to focus more intensely than usual on managing costs of production," Gunderson said. "Producers often budget on cost per acre. While this is an excellent start and certainly better than no budgeting at all, focusing only on total costs per acre might cause producers to overlook impor - tant productivity tradeoffs. "While it would be easy to lower to- tal per-acre costs by simply reducing the amount of various inputs, doing so could reduce yields." Instead, Gunderson said growers should consider budgeting based on outputs - or the production cost per bushel of grain - for three reasons: • Ease of evaluating decisions. • Per-unit fixed costs can decline with output increases. • There is a tradeoff between productivity and cost. "The most straightfor ward reason for calculating costs per bushel, rather than per acre, is that the crop being produced will be priced in dol - lars per bushel," he said. "Having the costs and benefits in the same units makes comparison easy." In addition, budgeting based on out- puts takes the focus off cost per acre. "The result of budgeting based on the costs per unit of input, or dollars per acre, is that spending additional money on inputs always will appear to raise costs," Gunderson said. "This type of analysis ignores the impact of inputs on the productivity of the op- eration. Some inputs increase yields more than others. "A grower budgeting based on cost per acre might forego the more expensive input simply because it costs more, while someone budgeting based on cost per unit of output might note that spending additional money per acre actually reduces total cost per acre because that input yields more bushels." The drawback of this method is the same as with any: No budget can perfectly predict the future. Instead, Gunderson said, the key is to use his - tor y and trends to make predictions. Gunderson recently wrote an in-depth article about budgeting and pricing inputs, complete with tables and graphs, titled "Sometimes you have to spend money to make mon- ey." It's available on the Center for Food and Agricultural Business blog at http://agribusiness.purdue.edu/ blog/spend-money-to-make-money. "However, Indiana farm income will still be depressed for all areas and even weaker in low-yield areas," he said. Cattle farmers should watch for anaplasmosis By Emma Hopkins Purdue News Service hopkine@purdue.edu Beef and dair y producers in Indi- ana should watch their herds carefully this fall for signs of the blood disease anaplasmosis, a Purdue animal health specialist says. The disease causes severe and potentially fatal anemia in cattle but poses no threat to humans. "If you have, or suspect anaplasmo- sis, work closely with your herd veteri- narian to develop effective treatment and control programs," said Bethany Funnell, clinical assistant professor of veterinar y medicine. "Death of an adult is often the first sign noticed in a herd infection." The disease is caused by the parasites Anaplasma marginale and Anaplasma centrale. Tetracycline is the most common treatment. Symp - toms in cattle include weight loss, loss of appetite, high fever, dehydration, constipation, pale mucous membranes inside eyelid and vulva, jaundice, abor- tion in pregnant cows and aggressive behavior. The disease is more com- mon among middle-aged animals, with most fatal cases occurring between 6 and 8 years old. Anaplasmosis in cattle is spread by parasites such as biting flies and wood ticks. Wet weather in the spring may have created ideal breeding conditions for the insects that carr y the disease. Herds may also become infected by de-horning, ear-tagging, castration, injection and other equipment that has not been disinfected between uses on different cows. "Data shows that a syringe used on an infected cow could infect six out of the next 10 animals injected using the same syringe," said Ron Lemenager, a Purdue Extension beef specialist. The disease is found in both beef and dair y herds but is less common in dair y herds. Early treatment of the disease is key to keeping cattle alive. Funnell recommends that producers in high and moderate infection areas con - sider vaccinating young cattle against anaplasmosis because symptoms are often not seen in cattle younger than a year old. Funnell said clearing infection requires long-term antibiotic therapy, and producers should consult their herd veterinarians to decide on an ap- propriate course. Time from exposure to clinical signs of anaplasmosis in cattle is 3-6 weeks, and some cattle may become asymp- tomatic carriers, meaning they could carr y the disease without showing any signs of it. Asymptomatic - or "carrier" - ani- mals are less vulnerable to a full-blown infection, so producers might want to consider exposing all of their cattle if the infection rate in the area is high, in effect vaccinating the animals against a serious infection. If the infection rate in a region is moderate to low (Indiana is considered low), it could be possible to clear the infection from a herd without exposing the animals. In areas where infection is high, Funnell said producers should consult with their veterinarians as soon as possible to plan an appropriate course of action. She noted that transporting cattle carr ying anaplasmosis might be dif - ficult because some state animal regu- lations may require a negative test for the infection before transport. To find out if an area is highly infected, Fun- nell suggests producers consult local food animal veterinarians and regional Extension educators. Lemenager said that handling ani- mals infected with anaplasmosis could present challenges because of their weakened systems. "If you're herding these cattle, you're going to need to bring them up easy, because they don't have enough oxygen, being anemic," he said. "If they get too excited, these cows could die."