Sugar Overconsumption during Adolescence Selectively Alters Motivation and Reward Function in Adult Rats

International audienceBACKGROUND:There has been a dramatic escalation in sugar intake in the last few decades, most strikingly observed in the adolescent population. Sugar overconsumption has been associated with several adverse health consequences, including obesity and diabetes. Very little is known, however, about the impact of sugar overconsumption on mental health in general, and on reward-related behavioral disorders in particular. This study examined in rats the effects of unlimited access to sucrose during adolescence on the motivation for natural and pharmacological rewards in adulthood.METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:Adolescent rats had free access to 5% sucrose or water from postnatal day 30 to 46. The control group had access to water only. In adulthood, rats were tested for self-administration of saccharin (sweet), maltodextrin (non-sweet), and cocaine (a potent drug of abuse) using fixed- and progressive-ratio schedules, and a concentration-response curve for each substance. Adult rats, exposed or not exposed to sucrose, were tested for saccharin self-administration later in life to verify the specificity of adolescence for the sugar effects. Sugar overconsumption during adolescence, but not during adulthood, reduced the subsequent motivation for saccharin and maltodextrin, but not cocaine. This selective decrease in motivation is more likely due to changes in brain reward processing than changes in gustatory perception.CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE:Sugar overconsumption induces a developmental stage-specific chronic depression in reward processing that may contribute to an increase in the vulnerability to reward-related psychiatric disorders

Aspects epidemiologiques, cliniques et evolutifs de l'insuffisance renale chronique (IRC) chez l'enfant dans un hopital pediatrique Senegalais

Introduction : Notre objectif dans cette étude était de décrire les aspects épidémiologiques, cliniques et les difficultés de prise en charge de l'IRC au S éné g a l a fin d e for mu l e r d e s recommandantions. Materiels et Methodes : Il s'agissait d'une étude rétrospective déscriptive et analytique de Janvier 2005 à Décembre 2013 au sein du service de pédiatrie de l'HALD. Etaient inclus les patients âgés de moins de 15 ans présentant depuis plus de 3 mois un débit de filtration glomérulaire 2 (DFG) inférieur à 60ml/min/1,73 m calculé par la formule de Schwartz. Les données ont été saisies et analysées grâce au logiciel SPSS 16.0. Résultats : Nous avons inclus dans l'étude 53 cas d'IRC durant la période d'étude soit une prévalence en hospitalisation de 0,62%. L'âge moyen chez nos patients était de 10,6 ans. Sur le plan clinique, l'œdème de type rénal était présent chez 69,8% des malades, la 2014;1:83-89 83 *( ) protéinurie dans 88,7% des cas et l'hypertension artérielle chez 75,5% des patients. Sur le plan biologique, l'anémie était présent chez 100% de nos patients. La classification de l'IRC montrait que 71,7% des cas étaient diagnostiqués au stade 5 de la maladie rénale chronique. La lésion causale la plus retrouvée était representée par les glomérulopathies chroniques acquises (52,8%). La survie globale à 12mois, chez les enfants hémodialysés était de 34,3%. Conclusion : La prévalence de l'IRC chez l'enfant dans notre étude est de 0,62%. Les glomérulopathies chroniques représentaient les étiologies les plus fréquentes La mortalité globale est élevée. Nous recommendons la création d'une unité de néphrologie pédiatrique pour une meilleure prise en charge.Motsclés: Insuffisance rénale chronique, Enfants, Glomérulopathie, Hémodialyse, Sénéga

Production objectives and trait preferences of village poultry producers of Ethiopia: implications for designing breeding schemes utilizing indigenous chicken genetic resources

To generate information essential for the implementation of breeding schemes suitable for village poultry producers in Ethiopia, a survey was conducted aimed at defining the socioeconomic characteristics of the production environments in different geographic regions, understanding the important functions of chickens, identifying farmers’ choice of chicken breeds and the underlying factors that determine the choice of genetic stock used. The survey included both questionnaire survey and a participatory group discussion. A total of 225 households (45 households from each of five Woredas) were interviewed. The questionnaire was designed to collect data covering general information on village poultry production such as socio-management characteristics, production objectives, population structure, breed choice and trait preferences, market preferences of specific traits, and farmers’ selection practices. The participatory farmers’ discussions were designed to involve stakeholders in defining the breeding objective “traits” and deriving their relative importance in the production environment based on the different functions of chickens and “traits” identified in the interviews. The results showed that production of eggs for consumption is the principal function of chickens in most regions followed by the use as source of income and meat for home consumption. The production system in all geographic regions studied revealed similar features generally characterized by extensive scavenging management, absence of immunization programs, increased risk of exposure of birds to disease and predators, and reproduction entirely based on uncontrolled natural mating and hatching of eggs using broody hens. Farmers’ ratings of indigenous chickens with respect to modern breeds showed the highest significance of the adaptive traits in general, and the superior merits of indigenous chickens to high yielding exotic breeds in particular. Adaptation to the production environment was the most important attribute of chickens in all the study areas. The high significance attributed to reproduction traits indicates the need for maintaining broody behavior and high level of hatchability while breeding for improved productivity of indigenous chickens for village conditions. The market price of chickens is primarily dictated by weight, but farmers rated growth (males) and number of eggs followed by growth (females) as the production traits they would like the most to be improved. Therefore, the ultimate breeding goal should be to develop a dual-purpose breed based on indigenous chicken genetic resources with any of the comb types other than single for all the regions studied having the most preferred white body plumage for farmers in the Amhara region and red body plumage for those in Oromia, Benshangul-Gumuz, and Southern regions