Cats and Goat Whey Associated with Toxoplasma gondii Infection in Pigs

In organic livestock production systems, farm-management factors are thought to play an important role in the on-farm prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii. Serological results and the results of an HACCP analysis were combined to determine important risk factors for the prevalence of this protozoan parasite. Mathematical analysis demonstrated that feeding goat whey to pigs and the presence of a high number of cats were positively correlated to T. gondii seroprevalence in pigs. Not covering roughage and the farmers' assumption that pigs can come into contact with cat feces also showed a positive relationship. In order to decrease the risk of T. gondii infecting their pigs, farmers should limit the access and number of cats on their farms and refrain from feeding goat whey to their pigs

Presentation : Development of an age-specific genome-scale model of skeletal muscle metabolism

Skeletal myocytes are among the most metabolically active cell types, implicated in nutrient balance, contributing to the insulin-stimulated clearance of glucose from the blood, and secreting myokines that contribute in regulating inflammation and the ageing process. The loss of muscle mass and strength with age (sarcopenia), is a risk factor for cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, it increases the risk of falls, of developing frailty and disabilities, and results in an impairment in the quality of life and autonomy of an individual.An active lifestyle is the most immediate and accessible treatment to prevent sarcopenia, with a considerable impact on the ageing process: PANINI is a European Training Network whose aim is understanding how lifestyle factors can influence healthy ageing.In this context, we present the first age-specific genome-scale metabolic model of the skeletal muscle, a mathematical representation of the myocyte metabolic network in the elderly, built using RECON2, the human metabolic reconstruction, and gene expression data, gathered from older adults' muscle tissue biopsies.This model will be used to analyze patient-specific data for potential mechanisms able to explain the different ageing paces of different individuals and to investigate the effectiveness of different nutritional and physical exercise regimes in stimulating post-exercise protein synthesis, which is often impaired in the elderly.The aim is to identify an optimal and personalized lifestyle change intervention able to prevent the onset of sarcopenia. <br/

Fasevoeding met maïsmeel bij biologisch melkvee

Fasevoeding met maïsmeel in de biologische veehouderij betekende voor de koeien in het begin van de lactatie een positieve energiebalans, maar een tegenvallende melkproductie. In de proef werd maïsmeel gebruikt om koeien in het begin van de lactatie extra energie te geven in vergelijking met een rantsoen met snijmaïs. De voeropname van de maïsmeel koeien was hoger, maar de melkgift lager. Daarmee hadden deze koeien een positieve energiebalans. De koeien die snijmaïs kregen, gaven meer melk en zij realiseerden een hoger saldo. Krachtvoeradvisering met DLM gaf een extra besparing op krachtvoer. Het systeem biedt kansen om zelf (of regionaal) geteelde granen op maat te voeren aan koeien

Еліпсис – один із найважливіших шляхів поповнення складу мінімальних фразеологічних одиниць

Стаття присвячена актуальній науковій проблемі, пов'язаній із аналізом спеціального фрагмента фразеологічного корпусу української мови - мінімальним ідіомам. Описуються два види фразеологічного еліпсиса.Статья посвящена актуальной научной проблеме, связанной с анализом специального фрагмента фразеологического корпуса украинского языка - минимальным идиомам. Описываются два вида фразеологического элипсиса.The article is dedicated to the scientific actual problem, connected with the analysis of special fragment in phraseological structure of the Ukrainian language - minimal idioms. Two types of phraseological ellipsis described

The impact of employee communication and perceived external prestige on organizational identification

Employees' Organizational Identification (OI) is measured in a customer service organization. Particularly the effects of employee communication and perceived external prestige (PEP) on OI were evaluated. Results show that employee communication affects OI more strongly than PEP. One aspect of employee communication, the communication climate, appears to play a central role: it mediates the impact on OI of the content of employee communication. These results suggest that the importance of how an organization communicates internally is even more vital than the question what is being communicated. Consequences of the results for managing and synchronizing internal and external communication are discussed

Parameter adaptations during phenotype transitions in progressive diseases

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The study of phenotype transitions is important to understand progressive diseases, e.g., diabetes mellitus, metabolic syndrome, and cardiovascular diseases. A challenge remains to explain phenotype transitions in terms of adaptations in molecular components and interactions in underlying biological systems.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Here, mathematical modeling is used to describe the different phenotypes by integrating experimental data on metabolic pools and fluxes. Subsequently, trajectories of parameter adaptations are identified that are essential for the phenotypical changes. These changes in parameters reflect progressive adaptations at the transcriptome and proteome level, which occur at larger timescales. The approach was employed to study the metabolic processes underlying liver X receptor induced hepatic steatosis. Model analysis predicts which molecular processes adapt in time after pharmacological activation of the liver X receptor. Our results show that hepatic triglyceride fluxes are increased and triglycerides are especially stored in cytosolic fractions, rather than in endoplasmic reticulum fractions. Furthermore, the model reveals several possible scenarios for adaptations in cholesterol metabolism. According to the analysis, the additional quantification of one cholesterol flux is sufficient to exclude many of these hypotheses.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We propose a generic computational approach to analyze biological systems evolving through various phenotypes and to predict which molecular processes are responsible for the transition. For the case of liver X receptor induced hepatic steatosis the novel approach yields information about the redistribution of fluxes and pools of triglycerides and cholesterols that was not directly apparent from the experimental data. Model analysis provides guidance which specific molecular processes to study in more detail to obtain further understanding of the underlying biological system.</p

Time to achieve remission determines time to be in remission

Contains fulltext : 87665.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)INTRODUCTION: Though remission is currently a treatment goal in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), the number of patients who achieve and sustain remission in daily practice is still small. It is suggested that early remission will be associated with sustainability of remission. The aim was to study the association between time-to-remission and sustainability of remission in a cohort of early RA patients treated according to daily practice. METHODS: For this study, three-year follow-up data were used from the Nijmegen RA Inception Cohort of patients included between 1985 and 2005 (N=753). Patients were included upon diagnosis (ACR criteria), were systematically evaluated at three-monthly visits and treated according to daily practice. Remission was defined according to the Disease Activity Score (DAS)<1.6 and the ACR remission criteria. Remission of at least 6 months duration was regarded as sustained remission. Predictors for time-to-remission were identified by Cox-regression analyses. The relation between time-to-remission and sustained remission was analyzed using longitudinal binary regression. RESULTS: N=398 (52%) patients achieved remission with a median time-to-remission of 12 months. Male gender, younger age and low DAS at baseline were predictive to reach remission rapidly. There were n=142 (36%) patients experiencing sustained remission, which was determined by a shorter time-to-remission only. The relationship between time-to-remission and sustained remission was described by a significant odds ratio (1.11) (1.10 to 1.12-95% CI) that was constant over the whole period 1985 to 2005. Results obtained with the ACR remission criteria were similar. CONCLUSIONS: A shorter time-to-remission is related to sustainability of remission, supporting striving for early remission in patients with RA