Fertility of frozen-thawed bull sperm is reduced by cryopreservation. Freezing-thawing procedures can result in as much as a sevenfold fertility decrease. Sperm mortality and loss of motility do not fully explain the reduced fertility of cryopreserved semen; they may be partially explained by the loss of sperm surface proteins, which are necessary for fertilization. We have previously identifie...

In this study, we evaluated the effects of the thawing methodology on sperm function after cryopreservation in pellets. We compared the use of two thawing procedures: method (1) maintaining pellet for 10 min in air at room temperature, then another 10-min period in air at 37°C followed by dilution in a thawing medium; and method (2) immersing the pellets directly in thawing medium at 37°C for 2...

During cold acclimation, winter rye (Secale cereale) plants accumulate pathogenesis-related proteins that are also antifreeze proteins (AFPs) because they adsorb onto ice and inhibit its growth. Although they promote winter survival in planta, these dual-function AFPs proteins lose activity when stored at subzero temperatures in vitro, so we examined their stability in solutions containing CaCl...

Permafrost thawing is likely to change the flow pathways taken by water as it moves through arctic and subarctic landscapes. The location and distribution of these pathways directly influence the carbon and other biogeochemical cycling in northern latitude catchments. While permafrost thawing due to climate change has been observed in the arctic and sub-arctic, direct observations of permafrost...

This study explored the effects of water or brine (2% NaCl, w/v) immersion thawing combined with ultrasound treatment (40 kHz, 150 W) on the quality characteristics of pork. Ultrasound treatment of pork was conducted in two cold media (at 4℃), water and 2% (w/v) brine, respectively. Because the ultrasound treatment caused temperature increase in the media from 4℃ to 16℃, the qualities of pork t...

Much of the world's boreal forest occurs on permafrost (perennially cryotic ground). As such, changes in permafrost conditions have implications for forest function and, within the zone of discontinuous permafrost (30-80% permafrost in areal extent), distribution. Here, forested peat plateaus underlain by permafrost are elevated above the surrounding permafrost-free wetlands; as permafrost thaw...

Poly(viny1 alcohol) (PVA) hydrogels were prepared by treating 15 or 20% aqueous PVA solutions to repeated cycles of freezing for 6 or 12 h at 20°C and thawing for 2 h at 25°C. The resulting gels did not contain any leachable toxic crosslinking agents or other residues. Their adhesive characteristics were examined using tensile experiments in contact with bovine submaxillary mucin. As the number...