Soybean glycinin improves HDL-C and suppresses the effects of rosuvastatin on hypercholesterolemic rats.

Background: This study was an investigation of the effects of ingesting a daily dose of isolated glycinin soy protein (11S globulin), in association with rosuvastatin, on the control of hypercholesterolemia in experimental animals. Methods: Male Wistar rats were kept in individual cages under appropriate controlled conditions of temperature, light and humidity. The animals were divided into five groups (n = 9): 1) standard (STD): fed on casein as protein source; 2) hypercholesterolemic (HC): STD plus 1% cholesterol and 0.5% cholic acid; 3) HC+11S: hypercholesterolemic + glycinin (300 mg/kg/day); 4) HC+ROS: hypercholesterolemic + rosuvastatin (10 mg/kg/day); 5) HC+11S+ROS: HC diet, the 11S protein and the drug in the doses given in (3) and (4). The protein and the drug were administered by gavage for 28 days. The results indicated that the addition of 1% cholesterol and 0.5% cholic acid induced hypercholesterolemia in the animals without interfering with their weight gain. Results: A single daily dose of glycinin contributed an additional 2.8% of dietary protein intake and demonstrated its functional role, particularly in raising HDL-C, decreasing triglycerides in the liver and improving the atherogenic index in animals exposed to a hypercholesterolemic diet. Conclusion: Most of the beneficial effects of the isolated treatments disappeared when the drug (rosuvastatin) and the protein (glycinin) were taken simultaneously. The association was shown not to interact additively, as noted in the plasma levels of total cholesterol and non-HDL cholesterol, and in the significant increase of cholesterol in the liver. Studies are in progress to identify the effects of peptides derived from the 11S globulin and their role in cholesterol metabolism

Monitoreo de glifosato en agua superficial en Entre Ríos. La Investigación Acción Participativa como metodología de abordaje. Prácticas de mitigación de contaminación por escurrimiento.

Los agroquímicos representan potenciales fuentes de contaminación ambiental. Los ambientes acuáticos son sistemas vulnerables, receptores naturales de las sustancias emitidas por las actividades agrícolas e industriales (Manahan, 2007). En Entre Ríos, las características naturales de topografía ondulada así como la baja capacidad de infiltración de sus suelos y las precipitaciones intensas en primavera-verano-otoño, predisponen a gran parte de la superficie provincial a procesos de degradación de suelos, especialmente por erosión hídrica (Scotta y Paparotti, 1990), a la vez que incrementan el riesgo de contaminación de los cursos de agua por escurrimiento desde agroecosistemas. Diversos estudios han demostrado el impacto ambiental de la utilización de glifosato. En el suelo, es adsorbido mediante uniones fosfato y degradado por microorganismos, lo que determina una escasa movilidad tanto del glifosato como de su principal metabolito, el ácido amino metilfosfónico (AMPA). Sin embargo, estudios de lixiviación y escurrimiento indican que puede ser transportado hacia las capas profundas del suelo o hacia cursos de agua superficiales cuando su aplicación se realiza previo a lluvias intensas (Flury, 1996; Villholth et al., 2000; Jaynes et al., 2001; Petersen et al., 2002; Rampoldi, 2007; Sasal et al., 2010). En consecuencia, se han detectado glifosato y AMPA en cursos de agua superficial aledaños a campos agrícolas (Sasal et al., 2012a; Aparicio et al., 2013; Primost, 2013; Etchegoyen, 2014; Ayarragaray et al., 2015). El Ministerio de Ambiente de Canadá (1987) fija en 280μg L-1 la concentración máxima aceptable de glifosato en agua potable y establece como umbral de largo plazo para la protección de la vida acuática en agua dulce una concentración de 800μg L-1 (CWQGs, 2012). La Agencia de Protección del Medio Ambiente de Estados Unidos, ha determinado en agua potable las metas máximas de niveles contaminantes para glifosato en 700 μg L-1 y ha fijado puntos de referencia para la vida acuática entre 1.800 y 49.900μg L-1 (USEPA, 2007). La Directiva Europea establece un valor paramétrico de 0,5 μg L-1 para el total de plaguicidas y de 0,1 μg L-1 para cada plaguicida individual. En Argentina, la Subsecretaría de Recursos Hídricos de la Nación publicó en el año 2003 los niveles guías nacionales de calidad de agua ambiente correspondientes a glifosato. Para fuentes de consumo humano se establece un nivel <300μg L-1, expresado como sal isopropilamina de glifosato, correspondiendo a la protección de la biota acuática un Valor Crónico Final de 240μg L-1. El Código Alimentario Argentino no define niveles guía de concentración de glifosato para agua potable de suministro público. La investigación acción participativa (IAP) es una metodología que apunta a la producción de un conocimiento propositivo y transformador, mediante un proceso de debate, reflexión y construcción colectiva de saberes entre los diferentes actores de un territorio con el fin de lograr la transformación social (Fals Borda y Rodrigues Brandao, 1987). Mediante la interacción entre el saber técnico-científico y el saber empírico, una comunidad identifica un problema, revisa lo que se conoce acerca de ello, analiza la información generada, extrae conclusiones, aprende a conducir conjuntamente una investigación e implementa soluciones (Selener, 1997). Esto permite que la toma de decisiones desde las etapas iniciales del proceso, recaiga sobre el total de la población involucrada. Se plantearon los siguientes objetivos: i) conformar una red de monitoreo del efecto del uso de glifosato sobre la calidad del agua (RMCA) en el área agrícola de Entre Ríos; ii) estimar la concentración de glifosato en agua superficial, producto de las pérdidas desde agroecosistemas e iii) identificar y acordar con los actores del sector agroalimentario, prácticas agronómicas de bajo impacto ambiental. Estos objetivos se desprendieron de las preguntas de investigación: ¿se detecta glifosato en el agua superficial del área agrícola de Entre Ríos? ¿Cuáles son las prácticas a modificar para preservar el ambiente?Fil: Sasal, Maria Carolina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Paraná; ArgentinaFil: Wilson, Marcelo German. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Paraná; ArgentinaFil: Sione, Silvana María José. Universidad Nacional de Entre Ríos. Facultad de Ciencias Agropecuarias; ArgentinaFil: Beghetto, S.M. Cambio Rural II; INTA Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Paraná. Agencia de Extensión Rural Crespo, Entre RíosFil: Gabioud, Emmanuel Adrian. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Paraná; ArgentinaFil: Oszust, José Daniel. Universidad Nacional de Entre Ríos. Facultad de Ciencias Agropecuarias; ArgentinaFil: Paravani, Enrique V. Universidad Nacional de Entre Ríos. Facultad de Ingeniería; ArgentinaFil: Demonte, Luisina Delma. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Ingeniería Química; ArgentinaFil: Repetti, María Rosa. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Ingeniería Química; ArgentinaFil: Bedendo, Dante Julian. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Paraná; ArgentinaFil: Medero, Silvina Laura. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Centro de Investigaciones de Recursos Naturales; ArgentinaFil: Goette, Jorge J., Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Paraná; ArgentinaFil: Pautasso, N. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Paraná; ArgentinaFil: Schulz, Guillermo. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Suelos; Argentin

Does Environmental Enrichment Reduce Stress? An Integrated Measure of Corticosterone from Feathers Provides a Novel Perspective

Enrichment is widely used as tool for managing fearfulness, undesirable behaviors, and stress in captive animals, and for studying exploration and personality. Inconsistencies in previous studies of physiological and behavioral responses to enrichment led us to hypothesize that enrichment and its removal are stressful environmental changes to which the hormone corticosterone and fearfulness, activity, and exploration behaviors ought to be sensitive. We conducted two experiments with a captive population of wild-caught Clark's nutcrackers (Nucifraga columbiana) to assess responses to short- (10-d) and long-term (3-mo) enrichment, their removal, and the influence of novelty, within the same animal. Variation in an integrated measure of corticosterone from feathers, combined with video recordings of behaviors, suggests that how individuals perceive enrichment and its removal depends on the duration of exposure. Short- and long-term enrichment elicited different physiological responses, with the former acting as a stressor and birds exhibiting acclimation to the latter. Non-novel enrichment evoked the strongest corticosterone responses of all the treatments, suggesting that the second exposure to the same objects acted as a physiological cue, and that acclimation was overridden by negative past experience. Birds showed weak behavioral responses that were not related to corticosterone. By demonstrating that an integrated measure of glucocorticoid physiology varies significantly with changes to enrichment in the absence of agonistic interactions, our study sheds light on potential mechanisms driving physiological and behavioral responses to environmental change

SPARC 2018 Internationalisation and collaboration : Salford postgraduate annual research conference book of abstracts

Welcome to the Book of Abstracts for the 2018 SPARC conference. This year we not only celebrate the work of our PGRs but also the launch of our Doctoral School, which makes this year’s conference extra special. Once again we have received a tremendous contribution from our postgraduate research community; with over 100 presenters, the conference truly showcases a vibrant PGR community at Salford. These abstracts provide a taster of the research strengths of their works, and provide delegates with a reference point for networking and initiating critical debate. With such wide-ranging topics being showcased, we encourage you to take up this great opportunity to engage with researchers working in different subject areas from your own. To meet global challenges, high impact research inevitably requires interdisciplinary collaboration. This is recognised by all major research funders. Therefore engaging with the work of others and forging collaborations across subject areas is an essential skill for the next generation of researchers

Molecular control of HIV-1 postintegration latency: implications for the development of new therapeutic strategies

The persistence of HIV-1 latent reservoirs represents a major barrier to virus eradication in infected patients under HAART since interruption of the treatment inevitably leads to a rebound of plasma viremia. Latency establishes early after infection notably (but not only) in resting memory CD4+ T cells and involves numerous host and viral trans-acting proteins, as well as processes such as transcriptional interference, RNA silencing, epigenetic modifications and chromatin organization. In order to eliminate latent reservoirs, new strategies are envisaged and consist of reactivating HIV-1 transcription in latently-infected cells, while maintaining HAART in order to prevent de novo infection. The difficulty lies in the fact that a single residual latently-infected cell can in theory rekindle the infection. Here, we review our current understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in the establishment and maintenance of HIV-1 latency and in the transcriptional reactivation from latency. We highlight the potential of new therapeutic strategies based on this understanding of latency. Combinations of various compounds used simultaneously allow for the targeting of transcriptional repression at multiple levels and can facilitate the escape from latency and the clearance of viral reservoirs. We describe the current advantages and limitations of immune T-cell activators, inducers of the NF-κB signaling pathway, and inhibitors of deacetylases and histone- and DNA- methyltransferases, used alone or in combinations. While a solution will not be achieved by tomorrow, the battle against HIV-1 latent reservoirs is well- underway

Histomorphometric study of role of lactoferrin in atrophy of the intestinal mucosa of rats

The purpose of this work was to study the effects of oral administration of lactoferrin (Lf) in rats subjected to atrophy of the small intestine induced by a diet based on soy protein concentrate as the main protein source. We used 24 male Wistar rats aged 40 days, kept in individual cages under appropriate conditions of temperature, light and humidity. The animals were divided into four groups (n = 6); 1) group SL received soy-based food and, once a day, a supplement of 200mg/kg of Lf administered by gavage; 2) group Si received the soy feed without supplement of Lf; 3) group CL received a diet based on casein plus Lf; 4) group Ci received the casein diet without supplement of Lf. At the end of fifteen days, a 10 mm segment of the initial portion of the small intestine was sectioned and subjected to morphometry of the intestinal crypts and villi and assessment of the number and size of myofibroblasts. Comparison between groups showed that the length of the villi was similar in groups Ci and CL and higher in CL than in SL; SL than in Si, in Ci than in SL, and in Ci than in Si to Ci. The crypt depth was similar in SL and CL, SL and Ci and Ci and CL and was higher in Si than in Ci and in Si than in SL. The number of myofibroblasts was higher in SL than in CL, in SL than in Si, in CL than in Ci, and in SL than in and Ci; between Ci and Si there was no difference. The area of myofibroblasts was similar between the groups SL and CL and Si and Ci and higher in SL than in Si, and in Cl than in and Ci, and in SL than in Ci. All statistical analysis assumed significance when p < 0.05. From these results, we conclude that lactoferrin increases the number and size of the pericrypt myofibroblasts and stimulates rapidly the regeneration of atrophied villi