39 research outputs found

    Reduction of ammonia emissions by applying probiotics on litter in a commercial breeding poultry house

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    Received: February 1st, 2021 ; Accepted: May 2nd, 2021 ; Published: May 7th, 2021 ; Correspondence: [email protected] sectors account for a part of total ammonia emissions, including poultry. This is especially true in breeding poultry houses, where birds live on litter for several months. The purpose of the research was to reduce ammonia emission and to improve birds living environment. The study was performed in two breeding poultry houses: the test house (ProLG) and the control house (ConLG). The study starts when young breeding birds (Ross 308) are housed at 19 weeks of age until the birds are eradicated at 60 weeks of age. At the test house the probiotic mixture in a powder form was manually spread 10 g per m2 before the birds were placed, and it was spread manually once a week on litter and over manure pits throughout the lifetime 5 g per m2 of probiotic mixture. The amount of ammonia in ProLG and ConLG houses was measured in the fifth week after the start of the study and afterwards every four weeks at the same 6 points each time and the condition of the litter was assessed on a 5-point scale. As the age of the poultry increases, the number of measurements also increases. Electricity consumption was calculated every month for the test housing and for the control housing. The trial is still ongoing, initial results showed that amount of ammonia has decreased compared to the control house, indicating that the probiotics can be used efficiently to reduce ammonia in the manure of the birds and improving the microclimate in poultry houses, but subsequent results did not give the expected results - the efficacy of probiotics had not been yet approved

    Allergens induce enhanced bronchoconstriction and leukotriene production in C5 deficient mice

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    BACKGROUND: Previous genetic analysis has shown that a deletion in the complement component 5 gene-coding region renders mice more susceptible to allergen-induced airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) due to reduced IL-12 production. We investigated the role of complement in a murine model of asthma-like pulmonary inflammation. METHODS: In order to evaluate the role of complement B10 mice either sufficient or deficient in C5 were studied. Both groups of mice immunized and challenged with a house dust extract (HDE) containing high levels of cockroach allergens. Airways hyper-reactivity was determined with whole-body plesthysmography. Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) was performed to determine pulmonary cellular recruitment and measure inflammatory mediators. Lung homogenates were assayed for mediators and plasma levels of IgE determined. Pulmonary histology was also evaluated. RESULTS: C5-deficient mice showed enhanced AHR to methylcholine challenge, 474% and 91% increase above baseline Penh in C5-deficient and C5-sufficient mice respectively, p < 0.001. IL-12 levels in the lung homogenate (LH) were only slightly reduced and BAL IL-12 was comparable in C5-sufficient and C5-deficient mice. However, C5-deficient mice had significantly higher cysteinyl-leukotriene levels in the BAL fluid, 1913 +/- 246 pg/ml in C5d and 756 +/- 232 pg/ml in C5-sufficient, p = 0.003. CONCLUSION: These data demonstrate that C5-deficient mice show enhanced AHR due to increased production of cysteinyl-leukotrienes

    Cysteinyl leukotrienes: multi-functional mediators in allergic rhinitis

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    Cysteinyl leukotrienes (CysLTs) are a family of inflammatory lipid mediators synthesized from arachidonic acid by a variety of cells, including mast cells, eosinophils, basophils, and macrophages. This article reviews the data for the role of CysLTs as multi-functional mediators in allergic rhinitis (AR). We review the evidence that: (1) CysLTs are released from inflammatory cells that participate in AR, (2) receptors for CysLTs are located in nasal tissue, (3) CysLTs are increased in patients with AR and are released following allergen exposure, (4) administration of CysLTs reproduces the symptoms of AR, (5) CysLTs play roles in the maturation, as well as tissue recruitment, of inflammatory cells, and (6) a complex inter-regulation between CysLTs and a variety of other inflammatory mediators exists.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/75432/1/j.1365-2222.2006.02498.x.pd

    Effect of sitagliptin on cardiovascular outcomes in type 2 diabetes

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    BACKGROUND: Data are lacking on the long-term effect on cardiovascular events of adding sitagliptin, a dipeptidyl peptidase 4 inhibitor, to usual care in patients with type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. METHODS: In this randomized, double-blind study, we assigned 14,671 patients to add either sitagliptin or placebo to their existing therapy. Open-label use of antihyperglycemic therapy was encouraged as required, aimed at reaching individually appropriate glycemic targets in all patients. To determine whether sitagliptin was noninferior to placebo, we used a relative risk of 1.3 as the marginal upper boundary. The primary cardiovascular outcome was a composite of cardiovascular death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal stroke, or hospitalization for unstable angina. RESULTS: During a median follow-up of 3.0 years, there was a small difference in glycated hemoglobin levels (least-squares mean difference for sitagliptin vs. placebo, -0.29 percentage points; 95% confidence interval [CI], -0.32 to -0.27). Overall, the primary outcome occurred in 839 patients in the sitagliptin group (11.4%; 4.06 per 100 person-years) and 851 patients in the placebo group (11.6%; 4.17 per 100 person-years). Sitagliptin was noninferior to placebo for the primary composite cardiovascular outcome (hazard ratio, 0.98; 95% CI, 0.88 to 1.09; P<0.001). Rates of hospitalization for heart failure did not differ between the two groups (hazard ratio, 1.00; 95% CI, 0.83 to 1.20; P = 0.98). There were no significant between-group differences in rates of acute pancreatitis (P = 0.07) or pancreatic cancer (P = 0.32). CONCLUSIONS: Among patients with type 2 diabetes and established cardiovascular disease, adding sitagliptin to usual care did not appear to increase the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events, hospitalization for heart failure, or other adverse events

    Effects of Once-Weekly Exenatide on Cardiovascular Outcomes in Type 2 Diabetes.

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    Abstract BACKGROUND: The cardiovascular effects of adding once-weekly treatment with exenatide to usual care in patients with type 2 diabetes are unknown. METHODS: We randomly assigned patients with type 2 diabetes, with or without previous cardiovascular disease, to receive subcutaneous injections of extended-release exenatide at a dose of 2 mg or matching placebo once weekly. The primary composite outcome was the first occurrence of death from cardiovascular causes, nonfatal myocardial infarction, or nonfatal stroke. The coprimary hypotheses were that exenatide, administered once weekly, would be noninferior to placebo with respect to safety and superior to placebo with respect to efficacy. RESULTS: In all, 14,752 patients (of whom 10,782 [73.1%] had previous cardiovascular disease) were followed for a median of 3.2 years (interquartile range, 2.2 to 4.4). A primary composite outcome event occurred in 839 of 7356 patients (11.4%; 3.7 events per 100 person-years) in the exenatide group and in 905 of 7396 patients (12.2%; 4.0 events per 100 person-years) in the placebo group (hazard ratio, 0.91; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.83 to 1.00), with the intention-to-treat analysis indicating that exenatide, administered once weekly, was noninferior to placebo with respect to safety (P<0.001 for noninferiority) but was not superior to placebo with respect to efficacy (P=0.06 for superiority). The rates of death from cardiovascular causes, fatal or nonfatal myocardial infarction, fatal or nonfatal stroke, hospitalization for heart failure, and hospitalization for acute coronary syndrome, and the incidence of acute pancreatitis, pancreatic cancer, medullary thyroid carcinoma, and serious adverse events did not differ significantly between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: Among patients with type 2 diabetes with or without previous cardiovascular disease, the incidence of major adverse cardiovascular events did not differ significantly between patients who received exenatide and those who received placebo. (Funded by Amylin Pharmaceuticals; EXSCEL ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01144338 .)

    OBTAINING POSITIONS OF ASTEROIDS FROM DIGITIZED PROCESSING OF PHOTOGRAPHIC OBSERVATIONS IN BALDONE OBSERVATORY (CODE 069)

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    Digital processing of photographic plates of star fields allows to determine with high accuracy the coordinates and stellar magnitudes for all registered objects on these plates. The processing results can be used for a broad search for images of small bodies of the Solar system and determination of their coordinates. From the observations of earlier epoch, we can extract information about the locations of these bodies well before discovering them. Modern approach to processing early photographic observations with new technologies can be an effective instrument for rediscovery of asteroids and correction their orbits. We analyzed the results of digital processing of observations of clusters in UBVR bands which were made on the 1.2-m Schmidt telescope of the Observatory of Institute of Astronomy ofUniversityofLatviain Baldone (code 069). As a result 87 images of minor planets from 9.8 to 17.1 stellar magnitude and 2 images of comets were identified on 152 plates for 1967-1996. The catalogue of positions and stellar magnitudes of the searching asteroids was compiled. Among them 12 observations of asteroids are the earliest of the world's known observations of these asteroids. All positions of asteroids were compared with the ephemeris JPL DE431. Analysis was carried out.

    The gene for histone RNA hairpin binding protein is located on human chromosome 4 and encodes a novel type of RNA binding protein.

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    The hairpin structure at the 3' end of animal histone mRNAs controls histone RNA 3' processing, nucleocytoplasmic transport, translation and stability of histone mRNA. Functionally overlapping, if not identical, proteins binding to the histone RNA hairpin have been identified in nuclear and polysomal extracts. Our own results indicated that these hairpin binding proteins (HBPs) bind their target RNA as monomers and that the resulting ribonucleoprotein complexes are extremely stable. These features prompted us to select for HBP-encoding human cDNAs by RNA-mediated three-hybrid selection in Saccharomyces cerevesiae. Whole cell extract from one selected clone contained a Gal4 fusion protein that interacted with histone hairpin RNA in a sequence- and structure-specific manner similar to a fraction enriched for bovine HBP, indicating that the cDNA encoded HBP. DNA sequence analysis revealed that the coding sequence did not contain any known RNA binding motifs. The HBP gene is composed of eight exons covering 19.5 kb on the short arm of chromosome 4. Translation of the HBP open reading frame in vitro produced a 43 kDa protein with RNA binding specificity identical to murine or bovine HBP. In addition, recombinant HBP expressed in S. cerevisiae was functional in histone pre-mRNA processing, confirming that we have indeed identified the human HBP gene

    RESEARCH OF THE LONG-TERM BEHAVIOUR OF THE PLEIADES BY USING OF PHOTOGRAPHIC PLATES FROM UKRVO DIGITAL ARCHIVE AND BALDONE OBSERVATORY

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    The Pleiades Star Cluster (M45) is one of the most studied star clusters in the galaxy. At the same time as part of the Pleiades are many long-period variable stars, including flashing that need further study. Recent work on the processing of photographic images of the Pleiades obtained at different observatory revealed a number of star clusters with large variations in coordinates, the reason you want to understand. Collection of UkrVO unified digital archive contains a number of plates with images of the stars of the Pleiades obtained on different instruments. Processing of this material allows to test out standard programs for digital astronomical images processing. Also we will add information about variable stars and will improve the coordinates and proper motions of cluster stars. Selected material covers the period 1909 – 1999 years. The plates have different margins, scale, number of stars on images and obtained limiting magnitude. Exactly this diverse set of options lets you to be sure of results
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