As we know, the 2016 year is in full swing and with that ARPAS is already in the final stages of planning the ARPAS Symposium for the 2016 Joint Annual Meeting held in Salt Lake City, Utah. Current President-Elect, Jeffrey DeFrain, has orchestrated what promises to be another highly educational symposium.

This year's symposium is How Inflammation Alters Nutrient Metabolism and Animal Performance and will take place Wednesday, July 20, 2016, at 9:30 am. A more detailed description and speaker information is as follows:

An inflammatory state is part of the normal biological process to maintain tissue homeostasis. Inflammatory states have been broadly associated with psychological, physical, and environmental challenges to the animal. The inflammatory state can result from a wide spectrum of causes, but in livestock production animals it is often associated with microbial invaders, injury, or trauma. Recent research has identified several inflammatory markers and acute-phase proteins that can be useful in detecting the magnitude and severity of inflammation in a given animal. Understanding of the metabolic effect of these inflammatory markers could aid in the development of future nutritional and management strategies to keep the inflammatory process at a manageable state so as to optimize nutrient metabolism and animal performance.

• Kirk C. Klasing, University of California-Davis, providing general information on inflammation
• T. G. Nagaraja, Kansas State University, discussing the role of rumen microflora in systemic inflammation
• Chris Chase, South Dakota State University, discussing the usefulness of inflammatory biomarkers
• Reinaldo Cooke, Oregon State University, discussing nutritional considerations in cattle

We hope to see you at this year's ARPAS Symposium!