Fusarium mycotoxin-contaminated wheat containing deoxynivalenol alters the gene expression in the liver and the jejunum of broilers

The effects of mycotoxins in the production of animal feed were investigated using broiler chickens. For the feeding trial, naturally Fusarium mycotoxin-contaminated wheat was used, which mainly contained deoxynivalenol (DON). The main effects of DON are reduction of the feed intake and reduced weight gain of broilers. At the molecular level, DON binds to the 60 S ribosomal subunit and subsequently inhibits protein synthesis at the translational level. However, little is known about other effects of DON, for example, at the transcriptional level. Therefore, a microarray analysis was performed, which allows the investigation of thousands of transcripts in one experiment. In the experiment, 20 broilers were separated into four groups of five broilers each at day 1 after hatching. The diets consisted of a control diet and three diets with calculated, moderate concentrations of 1.0, 2.5 and 5.0 mg DON/kg feed, which was attained by exchanging uncontaminated wheat with naturally mycotoxin-contaminated wheat up to the intended DON concentration. The broilers were held at standard conditions for 23 days. Three microarrays were used per group to determine the significant alterations of the gene expression in the liver (P < 0.05), and qPCR was performed on the liver and the jejunum to verify the results. No significant difference in BW, feed intake or feed conversion rate was observed. The nutrient uptake into the hepatic and jejunal cells seemed to be influenced by genes: SLC2A5 (fc: −1.54, DON2.5), which facilitates glucose and fructose transport and SLC7A10 (fc: +1.49, DON5), a transporter of d-serine and other neutral amino acids. In the jejunum, the palmitate transport might be altered by SLC27A4 (fc: −1.87, DON5) and monocarboxylates uptake by SLC16A1 (fc: −1.47, DON5). The alterations of the SLC gene expression may explain the reduced weight gain of broilers chronically exposed to DON-contaminated wheat. The decreased expressions of EIF2AK3 (fc: −1.29, DON2.5/5) and DNAJC3 (fc: −1.44, DON2.5) seem to be related to the translation inhibition. The binding of DON to the 60 S ribosomal subunit and the subsequent translation inhibition might be counterbalanced by the downregulation of EIF2AK3 and DNAJC3. The genes PARP1, MPG, EME1, XPAC, RIF1 and CHAF1B are mainly related to single-strand DNA modifications and showed an increased expression in the group with 5 mg DON/kg feed. The results indicate that significantly altered gene expression was already occurring at 2.5 mg DON/kg fee

Implications of a Quantum Mechanical Treatment of the Universe

We attempt to treat the very early Universe according to quantum mechanics. Identifying the scale factor of the Universe with the width of the wave packet associated with it, we show that there cannot be an initial singularity and that the Universe expands. Invoking the correspondence principle, we obtain the scale factor of the Universe and demonstrate that the causality problem of the standard model is solved.Comment: LaTex, 5 pages, 1 figure, to be published in Mod. Phys. Lett.

Gravitational Waves in Open de Sitter Space

We compute the spectrum of primordial gravitational wave perturbations in open de Sitter spacetime. The background spacetime is taken to be the continuation of an O(5) symmetric instanton saddle point of the Euclidean no boundary path integral. The two-point tensor fluctuations are computed directly from the Euclidean path integral. The Euclidean correlator is then analytically continued into the Lorentzian region where it describes the quantum mechanical vacuum fluctuations of the graviton field. Unlike the results of earlier work, the correlator is shown to be unique and well behaved in the infrared. We show that the infrared divergence found in previous calculations is due to the contribution of a discrete gauge mode inadvertently included in the spectrum.Comment: 17 pages, compressed and RevTex file, including one postscript figure fil

Poly-essential and general Hyperelastic World (brane) models

This article provides a unified treatment of an extensive category of non-linear classical field models whereby the universe is represented (perhaps as a brane in a higher dimensional background) in terms of a structure of a mathematically convenient type describable as hyperelastic, for which a complete set of equations of motion is provided just by the energy-momentum conservation law. Particular cases include those of a perfect fluid in quintessential backgrounds of various kinds, as well as models of the elastic solid kind that has been proposed to account for cosmic acceleration. It is shown how an appropriately generalised Hadamard operator can be used to construct a symplectic structure that controles the evolution of small perturbations, and that provides a characteristic equation governing the propagation of weak discontinuities of diverse (extrinsic and extrinsic) kinds. The special case of a poly-essential model - the k-essential analogue of an ordinary polytropic fluid - is examined and shown to be well behaved (like the fluid) only if the pressure to density ratio $w$ is positive.Comment: 16 pages Latex, Contrib. to 10th Peyresq Pysics Meeting, June 2005: Micro and Macro Structures of Spacetim

Acute Toxicity and Vascular Properties of Seed of Parkia Biglobosa (Jacq) R. Br Gift (Mimosaceae) on Rat Aorta

The authors report here the results of study on Parkia biglobosa seeds used in Burkina Faso for arterial hypertension treatment. Investigations were done on acute toxicity and vascular properties of fermented and roasted seeds. Acute toxicity test using mice, revealed by the intraperitoneal route a lethal dose 50 (LD50) of 1800 mg/kg and 1600 mg/kg of body weight for aqueous extract from roasted and fermented seeds respectively. According to the scale of Hodge and Sterner and that of the World Health Organization, such drugs would be classified lightly toxic. Oral administration (up to 3000 mg/kg) did not induce any death of animal. For the vascular properties, the effects of these products were tested on the aorta isolated from rats. The cumulative administration of extract from roasted and fermented seeds (0.1-10 mg/mL) in an organ bath induced a concentration-dependent relaxation of the aorta pre contracted by phenylephrine, with or without functional endothelium. The extracts (10 mg/mL) inhibited for 100% the contraction induced by phenylephrine. The EC50 values in presence and absence of endothelium were respectively of 5.37 &plusmn; 0.12 and 4.19 &plusmn; 1.02 mg/mL for fermented seeds; for roasted seeds these values were respectively, 5.39 &plusmn; 1.12 and 5.93 &plusmn; 0.95 mg/mL. Nevertheless, low concentration of roasted seeds (1-4 mg/mL) induced endothelium-dependent relaxation and this effect was inhibited by indomethacin (10-5M), and not by L-NAME (310-4M). These experimental results revealed a vasorelaxant effect of P. biglobosa seeds. P. biglobosa seems to act directly on the smooth muscle and via endothelium involving the generation of vasodilatating prostaglandins. This vasodilator effect would be in favor of an anti hypertensive property of P. biglobosa seeds.Key words: Acute toxicity; vasodilator; endothelium; Parkia biglobosa

Size-dependent Surface States on Strained Cobalt Nanoislands on Cu(111)

Low-temperature scanning tunneling spectroscopy over Co nanoislands on Cu(111) showed that the surface states of the islands vary with their size. Occupied states exhibit a sizeable downward energy shift as the island size decreases. The position of the occupied states also significantly changes across the islands. Atomic-scale simulations and ab inito calculations demonstrate that the driving force for the observed shift is related to size-dependent mesoscopic relaxations in the nanoislands.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Energy, Nutrient and Food Intakes of Male Shift Workers Vary According to the Schedule Type but Not the Number of Nights Worked.

Shift work is associated with increased risk of chronic diseases due to circadian rhythm disruptions and behavioral changes such as in eating habits. Impact of type of shifts and number of night shifts on energy, nutrient and food intake is as yet unknown. Our goal was to analyze shift workers' dietary intake, eating behavior and eating structure, with respect to frequency of nights worked in a given week and seven schedule types. Eating habits and dietary intakes of 65 male shift workers were analyzed in three steps based on 365 24-h food records: (1) according to the number of nights, (2) in a pooled analysis according to schedule type, and (3) in search of an interaction of the schedule and the timing of intake. Mean nutrient and food group intake during the study period did not depend on the number of nights worked. Amount and distribution of energy intake as well as quality of food, in terms of nutrient and food groups, differed depending on the type of schedule, split night shifts and recovery day (day after night shift) being the most impacted. Shift workers' qualitative and quantitative dietary intakes varied between different schedules, indicating the need for tailored preventive interventions

Gravity Waves from Instantons

We perform a first principles computation of the spectrum of gravity waves produced in open inflationary universes. The background spacetime is taken to be the continuation of an instanton saddle point of the Euclidean no boundary path integral. The two-point tensor correlator is computed directly from the path integral and is shown to be unique and well behaved in the infrared. We discuss the tensor contribution to the cosmic microwave background anisotropy and show how it may provide an observational discriminant between different types of primordial instantons.Comment: 19 pages, RevTex file, including two postscript figure file