Effect of Tiamulin or Rescue-kit(R) on diet utilisation, growth and carcass yield of growing rabbits

[EN] A total of 192 CalifornianxNew Zealand rabbits weaned at 33 d old were used in this experiment. Animals were allocated at weaning to three homogenous treatment groups based on litter size and live weight. Rabbits in control treatment (C) were offered a standard feed (SF) containing Robenidin and Flavomycin. Rabbits in TI treatment were fed SF diet and supplemented between days 33 and 62 with Tiamulin. The third group of rabbits (RK treatment) were fed SF diet and supplemented with Rescue-Kit(R) (containing B. licheniformis and B. subtilis (1600x10(9) CFU), betain, vitamins and oligo-elements) in the drinking water from 41 to 50 d of age. Digestibility of the experimental diets was recorded from 47 to 50 d of age, growth performance from weaning to 77 d old and carcass performance at 77 d of age. In the second week after weaning, between days 41 and 50, average daily gain (ADG) and feed intake for the regime including Tiamulin increased by 19 and 7.5% (P<=0.051) compared to those fed C and RK treatments. In this period, animals supplemented with Tiamulin obtained the best feed conversion ratio (FCR) and the highest DM digestibility (P=0.023). Rabbits from RK treatment showed the same DM digestibility than those from the C group, but an intermediate FCR between TI and C rabbits. The retrieval of Tiamulin from the diet after day 62 and until day 77 led to a decrease in ADG of the rabbits, which was lower than for animals receiving RK (P=0.007), while C animals had intermediate growth traits. It resulted that for the whole fattening period, treatments had no effect on ADG, feed intake and FCR (32.1 and 143 g/d and 4.13 g/g, respectively). Overall mortality rates and dressing out percentage were also similar among treatments (26.6 and 59.8%, respectively).Haj Ayed, M.; Ben Saïd, B. (2008). Effect of Tiamulin or Rescue-kit(R) on diet utilisation, growth and carcass yield of growing rabbits. World Rabbit Science. 16(3). doi:10.4995/wrs.2008.62716

Multiplicity-free theorems of the restrictions of unitary highest weight modules with respect to reductive symmetric pairs

The complex analytic methods have found a wide range of applications in the study of multiplicity-free representations. This article discusses, in particular, its applications to the question of restricting highest weight modules with respect to reductive symmetric pairs. We present a number of multiplicity-free branching theorems that include the multiplicity-free property of some of known results such as the Clebsh--Gordan--Pieri formula for tensor products, the Plancherel theorem for Hermitian symmetric spaces (also for line bundle cases), the Hua--Kostant--Schmid $K$-type formula, and the canonical representations in the sense of Vershik--Gelfand--Graev. Our method works in a uniform manner for both finite and infinite dimensional cases, for both discrete and continuous spectra, and for both classical and exceptional cases

Evidence for Reductive Genome Evolution and Lateral Acquisition of Virulence Functions in Two Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis Strains

Ruiz JC, D'Afonseca V, Silva A, et al. Evidence for Reductive Genome Evolution and Lateral Acquisition of Virulence Functions in Two Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis Strains. PLoS ONE. 2011;6(4): e18551.Background: Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis, a Gram-positive, facultative intracellular pathogen, is the etiologic agent of the disease known as caseous lymphadenitis (CL). CL mainly affects small ruminants, such as goats and sheep; it also causes infections in humans, though rarely. This species is distributed worldwide, but it has the most serious economic impact in Oceania, Africa and South America. Although C. pseudotuberculosis causes major health and productivity problems for livestock, little is known about the molecular basis of its pathogenicity. Methodology and Findings: We characterized two C. pseudotuberculosis genomes (Cp1002, isolated from goats; and CpC231, isolated from sheep). Analysis of the predicted genomes showed high similarity in genomic architecture, gene content and genetic order. When C. pseudotuberculosis was compared with other Corynebacterium species, it became evident that this pathogenic species has lost numerous genes, resulting in one of the smallest genomes in the genus. Other differences that could be part of the adaptation to pathogenicity include a lower GC content, of about 52%, and a reduced gene repertoire. The C. pseudotuberculosis genome also includes seven putative pathogenicity islands, which contain several classical virulence factors, including genes for fimbrial subunits, adhesion factors, iron uptake and secreted toxins. Additionally, all of the virulence factors in the islands have characteristics that indicate horizontal transfer. Conclusions: These particular genome characteristics of C. pseudotuberculosis, as well as its acquired virulence factors in pathogenicity islands, provide evidence of its lifestyle and of the pathogenicity pathways used by this pathogen in the infection process. All genomes cited in this study are available in the NCBI Genbank database (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genbank/) under accession numbers CP001809 and CP001829