Potential effects of essential oils in safeguarding the health and enhancing production performance of livestock animals: The current scientific understanding

The food sector competes in a cutthroat environment, and it constantly struggles to maintain or even grow its market share. For customer confidence and consumption to remain strong, consistent animal products are needed. The qualitative attributes of the derived goods appear to be improved by the addition of bioactive substances to food, such as essential oils (EOs), and consumers are shielded from the impacts of bacterial and oxidative deterioration. Due to the current controversy surrounding synthetic chemicals and their alleged carcinogenic potential, a substantial study has been done to find effective and safe substitutes. Aromatic plants and the corresponding EOs from them are considered natural products and are typically employed in ruminant nutrition. Since dietary supplementation has been demonstrated to be an easy and practical method to successfully suppress oxidative processes or microbial deterioration at their localized sites, the addition of EOs in animal diets is now becoming a regular practice. However, there is just a little amount of evidence supporting the notion that these compounds may improve nutrient absorption and gastrointestinal health. Additionally, a variety of factors affect how well EOs works in animal diets. These variables can be, on the one hand, the erratic composition, and the many additions to the diet, and, on the other hand, erratic animal genetic elements. Maximizing the use of EOs and creating high-quality products require a deeper understanding of the composition and activity of the gastrointestinal tract microbiota. Numerous EOs contain bioactive substances with the potential to serve as multifunctional feed supplements for animals, with impacts on growth performance, the digestive system, the growth of pathogenic bacteria, and lipid oxidation, among others. To establish their regular use in animal production and to determine their precise mechanism of action, more research is required. The potential advantages of EOs for livestock health and production are highlighted in the current article

Donkey milk: chemical make-up, biochemical features, nutritional worth, and possible human health benefits - Current state of scientific knowledge

Milk and milk derivatives are widely consumed because of their high nutritional density. Donkey milk and milk products have been consumed since ancient times. The use of donkey milk in the human diet is gaining popularity. The abundance of antibacterial components and protective elements in donkey milk sets it apart from the milk of other animals. Like human milk, donkey milk has low fat, high lactose, and low casein/whey protein ratio. Donkey milk whey protein's anti-proliferative properties imply lung cancer treatment. Alpha-lactalbumin, a type of protein, has been found to have antiviral, anticancer, and anti-stress properties. Donkey milk, like human milk, includes a low amount of casein and a smaller quantity of beta-lactoglobulin than cow milk. Donkey milk is an alternative for newborns with cow milk protein allergy and lactose intolerance since it has a higher amount of lactose, improves palatability, and prevents allergies. Osteogenesis, arteriosclerosis therapy, cardiac rehabilitation, accelerated aging, and hypocholesterolemic diets are some areas where donkey milk is beneficial. Since it contains probiotic lactobacilli strains, fermented beverages can be made with donkey milk. Donkey milk moisturizes skin due to its high vitamin, mineral, and polyunsaturated fatty acid content. The chemical makeup and potential therapeutic benefits of donkey milk warrant additional research. This has led to a rise in interest in producing dairy goods derived from donkey milk. Donkey milk has been used to make cheese, ice cream, milk powder, and even some experimental useful fermented drinks. The present article summarises what we know about donkey milk's chemical makeup, biological functions, nutritional worth, and possible human health benefits

Cinnamon as a Potential Feed Additive: Beneficial Effects on Poultry Health and Production Performances – An Update

According to the Food and Agricultural Organization, global poultry output increased from approximately 115 million tons in 2016 to around 136 million tons in 2023. Poultry production has increased significantly with the dramatic uptick in meat and egg demand. Feed accounts for between 65 and 70 percent of total production costs, making it the largest chicken industry expense. This is why it's important to maximize the transformation of poultry feed into feed with a high biological value while taking as many steps as possible to protect feed quality and reduce feed costs. The use of feed additives in poultry feed has recently gained popularity and has been essential to increase feed efficiency and growth rate, which typically leads to reduced costs. The meat's texture, consistency, and nutritional content are all improved, and its shelf life is lengthened as a bonus. Feed additives are a fantastic tool for boosting a poultry farm's bottom line. For example, cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum) is often used as a traditional feed supplement. Rather than antibiotics, the poultry industry could benefit from using cinnamon as a natural antibiotic replacement, which would benefit animal welfare, consumer health, and the bottom line. The performance index, feed intake, FCE performance, and weight growth of poultry can all be improved by including cinnamon in the feed at varied concentrations. The digestive health and intestinal microbial population of hens are enhanced by a diet containing bioactive components of cinnamon. Cinnamon essential oils' popularity stems from their many valuable features, such as their ability to increase gastric enzyme synthesis and other biofunctional benefits. This review focuses on the possible advantages of cinnamon as a natural feed supplement for chickens, particularly about their intestinal microbiota, blood chemistry, nutrient absorption, gene expression, and immunology

Molecular insights into RNA recognition and gene regulation by the TRIM-NHL protein Mei-P26

The TRIM-NHL protein Meiotic P26 (Mei-P26) acts as a regulator of cell fate in Drosophila. Its activity is critical for ovarian germline stem cell maintenance, differentiation of oocytes, and spermatogenesis. Mei-P26 functions as a post-transcriptional regulator of gene expression; however, the molecular details of how its NHL domain selectively recognizes and regulates its mRNA targets have remained elusive. Here, we present the crystal structure of the Mei-P26 NHL domain at 1.6 Å resolution and identify key amino acids that confer substrate specificity and distinguish Mei-P26 from closely related TRIM-NHL proteins. Furthermore, we identify mRNA targets of Mei-P26 in cultured Drosophila cells and show that Mei-P26 can act as either a repressor or activator of gene expression on different RNA targets. Our work reveals the molecular basis of RNA recognition by Mei-P26 and the fundamental functional differences between otherwise very similar TRIM-NHL proteins

Bioinformatics Tools and Benchmarks for Computational Docking and 3D Structure Prediction of RNA-Protein Complexes

RNA-protein (RNP) interactions play essential roles in many biological processes, such as regulation of co-transcriptional and post-transcriptional gene expression, RNA splicing, transport, storage and stabilization, as well as protein synthesis. An increasing number of RNP structures would aid in a better understanding of these processes. However, due to the technical difficulties associated with experimental determination of macromolecular structures by high-resolution methods, studies on RNP recognition and complex formation present significant challenges. As an alternative, computational prediction of RNP interactions can be carried out. Structural models obtained by theoretical predictive methods are, in general, less reliable compared to models based on experimental measurements but they can be sufficiently accurate to be used as a basis for to formulating functional hypotheses. In this article, we present an overview of computational methods for 3D structure prediction of RNP complexes. We discuss currently available methods for macromolecular docking and for scoring 3D structural models of RNP complexes in particular. Additionally, we also review benchmarks that have been developed to assess the accuracy of these methods

Levetiracetam induced acute reversible psychosis in a patient with uncontrolled seizures

Levetiracetam (LEV) is a relatively newer antiepileptic drug with novel mechanism of action. It was introduced to the market in the year 2000. Pre-marketing clinical trials of the drug reported good tolerability with a wide safety margin. On post-marketing updates, there are few reports of psychosis after treatment with the drug. Here, we report a case of 52-year-old epileptic man who developed acute, reversible psychosis within 3 days of initiation of treatment. The drug was prescribed at a dose of 500 mg per day. After 3 days of treatment, the patient developed visual hallucinations, mood swings, withdrawal and suspicious behavior. Delirium was ruled out as there was no fluctuation in his sensorium or focal neurological deficits. His lab investigations for electrolytes, renal function test, thyroid, liver function and other related tests levels were within normal limits. A diagnosis of LEV induced psychosis was reached based on clinical judgment and causality assessment

Genome-wide identification of miRNAs and lncRNAs in Cajanus cajan

Abstract Background Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) are important players in the post transcriptional regulation of gene expression (PTGR). On one hand, microRNAs (miRNAs) are an abundant class of small ncRNAs (~22nt long) that negatively regulate gene expression at the levels of messenger RNAs stability and translation inhibition, on the other hand, long ncRNAs (lncRNAs) are a large and diverse class of transcribed non-protein coding RNA molecules (> 200nt) that play both up-regulatory as well as down-regulatory roles at the transcriptional level. Cajanus cajan, a leguminosae pulse crop grown in tropical and subtropical areas of the world, is a source of high value protein to vegetarians or very poor populations globally. Hence, genome-wide identification of miRNAs and lncRNAs in C. cajan is extremely important to understand their role in PTGR with a possible implication to generate improve variety of crops. Results We have identified 616 mature miRNAs in C. cajan belonging to 118 families, of which 578 are novel and not reported in MirBase21. A total of 1373 target sequences were identified for 180 miRNAs. Of these, 298 targets were characterized at the protein level. Besides, we have also predicted 3919 lncRNAs. Additionally, we have identified 87 of the predicted lncRNAs to be targeted by 66 miRNAs. Conclusions miRNA and lncRNAs in plants are known to control a variety of traits including yield, quality and stress tolerance. Owing to its agricultural importance and medicinal value, the identified miRNA, lncRNA and their targets in C. cajan may be useful for genome editing to improve better quality crop. A thorough understanding of ncRNA-based cellular regulatory networks will aid in the improvement of C. cajan agricultural traits

Quantifying morphological and mechanical properties of thermoplastics elastomers by selective localization of nanofillers with different geometries

International audiencePotential role of nanofiller in deciding their localization in polypropylene (PP)-natural rubber (NR) blend system is evaluated using experimental techniques followed by authentication using various theoretical approaches. Thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs) of PP-NR blend-based nanocomposites with Cloisite 15A and titanium dioxide (TiO 2) were prepared by melt mixing method, using Haake rheocord-90. In prefixed blend composition of 70-30 (PP-NR), selective localization of nanofiller was determined by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and quantified by Harmonic mean theoretical studies. Correlation length (ξ clay) and average length of the clay layers (L clay) measured for the dispersion of nanoclay. The dispersion efficiency of Cloisite 15A and TiO 2 in blend matrix were determined by X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies. Mechanical properties of blend nanocomposites were examined by varying the nanofiller loading and compared with theoretical approaches such as Kerner, Guth, Halpin-Tsai, Einstein and Quemeda models. It was found that irrespective of the geometry, the fillers migrated to th