Evaluation of White Striping prevalence and predisposing factors in broilers at slaughter

White striping ( WS: ) is an alteration of breast and thigh muscles of broiler chickens characterized by the presence of white striations parallel to the direction of muscle fibers. This study was performed to evaluate the prevalence and the predisposing factors to WS in commercial broilers of different weight reared in northern Italy. Fifty seven broiler flocks, including animals of medium- and heavy-weight, were grossly evaluated at slaughter for the presence of WS. For each flock, breeding data (mean BW at slaughter, ADG, sex, color of skin and fat, genetic line, age, antibiotic treatment, and prevalence of deep pectoral myopathy) were collected and statistically analyzed to assess their correlation with WS. Histology of breast fillets affected by different grades of WS was performed to evaluate potential differences between medium- and heavy-weight broilers. The overall prevalence of WS in medium- and heavy-weight broilers (mean BW 2.59 \ub1 0.13 kg and 3.64 \ub1 0.34 kg, respectively) was 70.2 \ub1 7.9% and 82.51 \ub1 8.5%, respectively, while the percentage of severe WS was 13.3 \ub1 7.1% and 25.7 \ub1 12.8%, respectively. A strong correlation was found between presence of WS, BW at slaughter, and ADG (Pearson correlation = 0.69, P < 0.01; Pearson correlation = 0.67, P < 0.01). WS also closely correlated with the prevalence of deep pectoral myopathy (Spearman's Rho slaughterhouse 1 = 0.74, Spearman's Rho slaughterhouse 2 = 0.51, P < 0.01). No correlation was found between genetics or sanitary status of the flock and WS. Histology confirmed that breasts with WS lesions were affected by a polyphasic degenerative and necrotizing myopathy, and that the lesions, as expected, were more severe in heavy-weight broilers. In conclusion, WS is a major concern in commercial meat poultry reared in Italy, affecting more severely heavier broilers, and it is mainly related to the BW and ADG of animals

The D-amino acid oxidase-carbon nanotubes: evaluation of cytotoxicity and biocompatibility of a potential anticancer nanosystem

The ‘enzyme prodrug therapy’ represents a promising strategy to overcome limitations of current cancer treatments by the systemic administration of prodrugs, converted by a foreign enzyme into an active anticancer compound directly in tumor sites. One example is D-amino acid oxidase (DAAO), a dimeric favoenzyme able to catalyze the oxidative deamination of D-amino acids with production of hydrogen peroxide, a reactive oxygen species (ROS), able to favor cancer cells death. A DAAO variant containing fve aminoacidic substitutions (mDAAO) was demonstrated to possess a better therapeutic efcacy under low O2 concentration than wild-type DAAO (wtDAAO). Recently, aiming to design promising nanocarriers for DAAO, multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were functionalized with polyethylene glycol (PEG) to reduce their tendency to aggregation and to improve their biocompatibility. Here, wtDAAO and mDAAO were adsorbed on PEGylated MWCNTs and their activity and cytotoxicity were tested. While PEG-MWCNTs-DAAOs have shown a higher activity than pristine MWCNTs-DAAO (independently on the DAAO variant used), PEG-MWCNTs-mDAAO showed a higher cytotoxicity than PEG-MWCNTs-wtDAAO at low O2 concentration. In order to evaluate the nanocarriers’ biocompatibility, PEG-MWCNTsDAAOs were incubated in human serum and the composition of protein corona was investigated via nLC-MS/MS, aiming to characterize both soft and hard coronas. The mDAAO variant has infuenced the bio-corona composition in both number of proteins and presence of opsonins and dysopsonins: notably, the soft corona of PEG-MWCNTs-mDAAO contained less proteins and was more enriched in proteins able to inhibit the immune response than PEG-MWCNTs-wtDAAO. Considering the obtained results, the PEGylated MWCNTs conjugated with the mDAAO variant seems a promising candidate for a selective antitumor oxidative therapy: under anoxic-like conditions, this novel drug delivery system showed a remarkable cytotoxic efect controlled by the substrate addition, against diferent tumor cell lines, and a bio-corona composition devoted to prolong its blood circulation time, thus improving the drug’s biodistribution

The ?Dark Side? of Food Stuff Proteomics: The CPLL-Marshals Investigate

The present review deals with analysis of the proteome of animal and plant-derived food stuff, as well as of non-alcoholic and alcoholic beverages. The survey is limited to those system investigated with the help of combinatorial peptide ligand libraries, a most powerful technique allowing access to low- to very-low-abundance proteins, i.e. to those proteins that might characterize univocally a given biological system and, in the case of commercial food preparations, attest their genuineness or adulteration. Among animal foods the analysis of cow’s and donkey’s milk is reported, together with the proteomic composition of egg white and yolk, as well as of honey, considered as a hybrid between floral and animal origin. In terms of plant and fruits, a survey is offered of spinach, artichoke, banana, avocado, mango and lemon proteomics, considered as recalcitrant tissues in that small amounts of proteins are dispersed into a large body of plant polymers and metabolites. As examples of non-alcoholic beverages, ginger ale, coconut milk, a kola drink, almond milk and orgeat syrup are analyzed. Finally, the trace proteome of white and red wines, beer and aperitifs is reported, with the aim of tracing the industrial manipulations and herbal usage prior to their commercialization. The review ends with a comparison between mammalian and plant proteomics highlighting the difficulties besieging analysis of any vegetable proteome

“Urinalysis, urinary proteome and metabolome of zoo-housed giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis) through noninvasive sampling method”.

The study of non-domestic animals withholds more difficulties compared to the domestic counterpart, thus using noninvasive techniques to collect biological samples might play an important role in assessing the health status of wild animals. 1 The present study established the reliability of urine sampling from the ground. A preliminary study was run with 10 urine samples of 10 cows (Bos taurus) housed in a dairy farming in Northern Italy. Urine samples, collected both in sterile cups and from the ground, were analyzed and compared. Results revealed no statistical differences in the variables investigated (p &gt; 0.05, dipstick parameters and USG, protein quantification and UPC and protein electrophoresis), which proved the reliability of this noninvasive sampling method. This method was used for sampling 103 urine samples from 44 zoo-housed giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis) of four Italian zoos. Urine samples were used to establish the urinalysis reference values in this species and to study the urinary proteome for the first time. The urinary reference values reported as median (lower and upper limit) were: urine specific gravity (USG), 1.030 (1006 - 1.049); urine total proteins (uTP), 17.58 (4.54 – 35.31) mg/dL; urine creatinine (uCr), 154.62 (39.59 – 357.95) mg/dL; urine protein: creatinine ratio (UPC), 0.11 (0.07 – 0.16). In giraffes, most urinary proteins had a low molecular mass (MM) and were present in low quantities. Proteomics disclosed fifteen different proteins, which were involved in the defense against microbes and in the ability of giraffes to concentrate urine. Albumin, lysozyme C, and ubiquitin were the most represented urinary proteins in giraffes. In addition, to define the urinary metabolome profile, 35 urine samples from 35 zoo-housed giraffes of five Italian zoos were used. Metabolomics allowed to identify and quantify 39 molecules and the most represented metabolites were hippurate, creatinine and phenylacetylglycine. This analysis provided information on physiological adaptations of giraffes. Besides, urinary metabolites were influenced by sex: urinary metabolome profile of female showed higher level of acetate, succinate, and lactate, conversely hippurate, phenylacetylglycine, and thymine were more concentrated in male urines. Similarly, the age affected the concentration of three urinary metabolites, namely formate, alanine, and valerate

In taberna quando sumus: od biblijskog opijanja do proteomike vina

Analysis of white and red wine trace proteomes via capture with combinatorial peptide ligand libraries (CPLL) is reported here. Most of the alcoholic beverages tested (all of Italian origin) were found to contain only traces of casein (on average from 20 to 60 µg/L, with a detectability of as low as 1 µg/L) and not any grape protein any longer, as they had been fined with bovine casein (surprisingly also red wines for which the typical fining agent is egg albumin). However, analysis of untreated white wine (Recioto, from Garganega grapes in the Veneto region) via CPLL capture indeed permitted to detect close to 100 unique gene products from the grapes, suggesting the possibility of proteotyping grand crus, i.e. those aged, high quality wines that should not be treated with fining agents. Thus the CPLL technique could become a formidable tool for traceability of beverages in particular and of foodstuff in general. For trace protein analysis, a new, most powerful CPLL methodology emerges: capture at pH=2.2 in 0.1 % trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) under the conditions mimicking reversed-phase mechanisms of adsorption.U radu su prikazani rezultati analize proteina u tragovima u crnim i bijelim vinima i uspoređeni pomoću datoteka rekombiniranih peptidnih liganada (CPLL). Ispitana su vina talijanskog podrijetla. U većini je uzoraka pronađen kazein u tragovima (prosječno od 20 do 60 µg/L, s pragom detekcije već od 1 µg/L), ali ni jedan protein iz grožđa, jer su sva vina bila pročišćena goveđim kazeinom, uključujući i crna vina koja se obično pročišćuju albuminom iz jaja. Međutim, analizom netretiranog bijelog vina (Recioto iz grožđa sorte Garganega, regija Veneto) pomoću datoteka rekombiniranih peptidnih liganada opaženo je gotovo 100 jedinstvenih produkata gena iz grožđa, što omogućava karakterizaciju proteoma vina grand cru, visokokvalitetnih odležanih vina koja inače ne treba pročišćavati. Stoga bi datoteke rekombiniranih peptidnih liganada mogle poslužiti kao odličan alat za otkrivanje proteina u tragovima u hrani i piću. Novom metodom CPLL pri pH=2,2 u prisutnosti 0,1 % trifluorooctene kiseline omogućena je analiza proteina u uvjetima koji oponašaju mehanizme njihove adsorpcije pri kromatografiji obrnutih faza

Validity of four commercially available metabolic carts for assessing resting metabolic rate and respiratory exchange ratio in nonventilated humans

Supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness via Retos de la Sociedad grant DEP2016-79512-R (to JRR), and European Regional Development Fund (ERDF); Spanish Ministry of Education grant (FPU15/04059 to JMAA; FPU19/01609 to LJF; and FPU18/03357 to MD-M); the University of Granada Plan Propio de Investigacion 2016-Excellence actions: Unit of Excellence on Exercise and Health (to JRR) -Plan Propio de Investigacion 2018 Programa Contratos-Puente and Programa Perfeccionamiento de Doctores (to GS-D); Junta de Andalucia, Consejeria de Conocimiento, Investigacion y Universidades grant SOMM17/6107/UGR (to JRR) via the ERDF; and the Fundacion Alfonso Martin Escudero (to GS-D); Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Granada/CBUA.Background & aims: The validity of most commercially available metabolic cart is mostly unknown. Thus, we aimed to determine the accuracy, precision, within-subject reproducibility, and concordance of RMR and RER measured by four commercially available metabolic carts [Cosmed Q-NRG, Vyaire Vyntus CPX, Maastricht Instruments Omnical, and Medgraphics Ultima CardiO2]. Further, we studied whether a previously proposed simulation-based post-calorimetric calibration of cart readouts [individual calibration control evaluation (ICcE)] modify the RMR and RER reproducibility and concordance. Methods: Three experiments simulating different RMR and RER by controlled pure gas (N-2 and CO2) infusions were conducted on 5 non-consecutive days. Moreover, 30-min methanol burns were performed on 3 non-consecutive days. Lastly, the RMR and RER of 29 young non-ventilated adults (11 women; 25 +/- 4 years-old; BMI: 24.1 +/- 3.2 kg/m(2)) were assessed twice using each instrument, 24 hours apart, under standardized conditions. Results: The Omnical presented the lowest measurement error for RER (Omnical = 1.7 +/- 0.9%; Vyntus = 4.5 +/- 2.0%; Q-NRG = 6.6 +/- 1.9%; Ultima = 6.8 +/- 6.5%) and EE (Omnical = 1.5 +/- 0.5%; Q-NRG = 2.5 +/- 1.3%; Ultima = 10.7 +/- 11.0%; Vyntus = 13.8 +/- 5.0%) in all in vitro experiments (controlled pure gas infusions and methanol burns). In humans, the 4 metabolic carts provided discordant RMR and RER estimations (all P < 0.001). No differences were detected in RMR within-subject reproducibility (P = 0.058; Q-NRG inter-day coefficient of variance = 3.6 +/- 2.5%; Omnical = 4.8 +/- 3.5%; Vyntus = 5.0 +/- 5.6%; Ultima = 5.7 +/- 4.6%), although the Ultima CardiO2 provided larger RER inter-day differences (4.6 +/- 3.5%) than the others carts (P = 0.001; Omnical = 1.9 +/- 1.7%; Vyntus = 2.1 +/- 1.3%; Q-NRG = 2.4 +/- 2.1%). The ICcE procedure did not modify the RMR or RER concordance and did not reduce the inter-day differences in any of the carts. Conclusions: The 4 metabolic carts provided discordant measurements of RMR and RER. Overall, the Omnical provides more accurate and precise estimations of RMR and RER than the Q-NRG, Vyntus and Ultima CardiO(2), and might be considered the best for assessing RMR and RER in non-ventilated humans. Finally, our results do not support the use of an ICcE procedure.Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness via Retos de la Sociedad grant DEP2016-79512-REuropean Commission Spanish Government FPU15/04059 FPU19/01609 FPU18/03357University of Granada Plan Propio de Investigacion 2016-Excellence actions: Unit of Excellence on Exercise and HealthPlan Propio de Investigacion 2018 Programa Contratos-Puente and Programa Perfeccionamiento de DoctoresJunta de Andalucia, Consejeria de Conocimiento, Investigacion y Universidades via the ERDF SOMM17/6107/UGRFundacion Alfonso Martin EscuderoUniversidad de Granada/CBU

Association between lifestyle factors and thyroid function in young euthyroid adults

This work is part of a PhD thesis conducted within the framework of the Biomedicine Doctoral Studies Program of the University of Granada, Spain. This study was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness via the Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria del Instituto de Salud Carlos III (PI13/01393), by the Retos de la Sociedad program (DEP2016-79512-R), European Regional Development Funds (ERDF), the Spanish Ministry of Education (FPU13/04365 and FPU19/01609), the Fundación Iberoamericana de Nutrición (FINUT), the Redes Temáticas de Investigación Cooperativa RETIC (Red SAMID RD16/0022), the AstraZeneca HealthCare Foundation, the University of Granada Plan Propio de Investigación 2016-Excellence actions: Unit of Excellence on Exercise and Health (UCEES)-and Plan Propio de Investigación 2018-the Programa Contratos-Puente and Contratos Perfeccionamiento de Doctores, the Junta de Andalucía, Consejería de Conocimiento, Investigación y Universidades (ERDF; ref. SOMM17/6107/UGR), and the Fundación Alfonso Martín Escudero (grant awarded to GSD).Data availability The datasets generated and/or analyzed during this study are available upon reasonable request. Clinical trial registry: NCT02365129 (ClinicalTrials.gov).Appendix A. Supplementary data Supplementary data associated with this article can be found, in the online version, at http://doi.org/10.26599/FSHW.2022.9250022.Purpose The present work examines the associations of dietary habits, sedentarism, physical activity (PA) levels and sleep habits, with thyroid function in young euthyroid adults. Methods A total of 105 young euthyroid adults participated in this cross-sectional study. Thyroid function was determined in fasting conditions (> 6 h). Dietary habits were measured by a food frequency questionnaire and three non-consecutive 24 h recalls, and different dietary intake and patterns were then estimated. The time spent in sedentary, PA levels and sleep habits were objectively measured using a wrist-worn accelerometer. Results Energy and carbohydrate intake were positively associated with thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) (β = 0.222; R2 = 0.102; P = 0.022 and β = 0.425; R2 = 0.129; P = 0.007, respectively) whereas fat intake was negatively associated with TSH (β = −0.428; R2 = 0.137; P = 0.004). Energy intake was also positively associated with free triiodothyronine (β = 0.277; R2 = 0.137; P = 0.004). Further, adherence to the Mediterranean diet was negatively related to TSH and free thyroxine (FT4) (β = −0.221; R2 = 0.113; P = 0.020 and β = −0.268; R2 = 0.071; P = 0.007, respectively). Vigorous-intensity and overall PA were negatively associated with FT4 (β = −0.227; R2 = 0.052; P = 0.022 and β = −0.204; R2 = 0.042; P = 0.041, respectively). In contrast, no associations were found between sleep parameters and thyroid function. Conclusions Lifestyle factors such as dietary intake and PA levels seems to be related to thyroid function even in young euthyroid adults.Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness via the Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria del Instituto de Salud Carlos III (PI13/01393)Retos de la Sociedad program (DEP2016-79512-R)European Regional Development Funds (ERDF)Spanish Ministry of Education (FPU13/04365 and FPU19/01609)Fundación Iberoamericana de Nutrición (FINUT)Redes Temáticas de Investigación Cooperativa RETIC (Red SAMID RD16/0022)AstraZeneca HealthCare FoundationUniversity of Granada Plan Propio de Investigación 2016-Excellence actions: Unit of Excellence on Exercise and Health (UCEES)-and Plan Propio de Investigación 2018-the Programa Contratos-Puente and Contratos Perfeccionamiento de DoctoresJunta de Andalucía, Consejería de Conocimiento, Investigación y Universidades (ERDF; ref. SOMM17/6107/UGR)Fundación Alfonso Martín Escuder

Impact of methods for data selection on the day-to-day reproducibility of resting metabolic rate assessed with four different metabolic carts

Background and aims: Accomplishing a high day-to-day reproducibility is important to detect changes in resting metabolic rate (RMR) and respiratory exchange ratio (RER) that may be produced after an intervention or for monitoring patients’ metabolism over time. We aimed to analyze: (i) the influence of different methods for selecting indirect calorimetry data on RMR and RER assessments; and, (ii) whether these methods influence RMR and RER day-to-day reproducibility. Methods and results: Twenty-eight young adults accomplished 4 consecutive RMR assessments (30-min each), using the Q-NRG (Cosmed, Rome, Italy), the Vyntus CPX (Jaeger-CareFusion, Höchberg, Germany), the Omnical (Maastricht Instruments, Maastricht, The Netherlands), and the Ultima CardiO2 (Medgraphics Corporation, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA) carts, on 2 consecutive mornings. Three types of methods were used: (i) short (periods of 5 consecutive minutes; 6e10, 11e15, 16e20, 21e25, and 26e30 min) and long time intervals (TI) methods (6e25 and 6 e30 min); (ii) steady state (SSt methods); and, (iii) methods filtering the data by thresholding from the mean RMR (filtering methods). RMR and RER were similar when using different methods (except RMR for the Vyntus and RER for the Q-NRG). Conversely, using different methods impacted RMR (all P 0.037) and/or RER (P 0.009) day-to-day reproducibility in all carts. The 6e25 min and the 6e30 min long TI methods yielded more reproducible measurements for all metabolic carts. Conclusion: The 6e25 min and 6e30 min should be the preferred methods for selecting data, as they result in the highest day-to-day reproducibility of RMR and RER assessments.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness via Retos de la Sociedad grant DEP2016-79512-R (to JRR), and European Regional Development Funds (ERDF); Spanish Ministry of Education grant (FPU15/04059 to JMAA; FPU19/01609 to LJ-F; and FPU18/03357 to MD-M); the University of Granada Plan Propio de Investigación 2016-Excellence actions: Unit of Excellence on Exercise and Health (to JRR); the University of Granada Plan Propio 2020 and 2018 Programa Contratos-Puente (to JMA and GS-D, respectively), and Programa Perfeccionamiento de Doctores (to GS-D); Junta de Andalucía, Consejería de Conocimiento, Investigación y Universidades grant SOMM17/6107/UGR (to JRR) via the ERDF; Grant FJC2020-044453-I funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by “European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTR” (to JMA); the Fundación Alfonso Martín Escudero (to GS-D); and a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions-Individual Fellowship grant (Horizon2020, 101028941, to GS-D)

No evidence of brown adipose tissue activation after 24 weeks of supervised exercise training in young sedentary adults in the ACTIBATE randomized controlled trial

Exercise modulates both brown adipose tissue (BAT)metabolismand white adipose tissue (WAT) browning in murine models. Whether this is true in humans, however, has remained unknown. An unblinded randomized controlled trial (ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT02365129) was therefore conducted to study the effects of a 24-week supervised exercise intervention, combining endurance and resistance training, on BAT volume and activity (primary outcome). The study was carried out in the Sport and Health University Research Institute and the Virgen de las Nieves University Hospital of the University of Granada (Spain). One hundred and forty-five young sedentary adults were assigned to either (i) a control group (no exercise, n = 54), (ii) a moderate intensity exercise group (MOD-EX, n = 48), or (iii) a vigorous intensity exercise group (VIG-EX n = 43) by unrestricted randomization. No relevant adverse events were recorded. 97 participants (34 men, 63 women) were included in the final analysis (Control; n = 35, MOD-EX; n=31, and VIG-EX; n=31).We observed no changes in BAT volume (Δ Control: −22.2 ± 52.6ml; Δ MOD-EX: −15.5 ± 62.1ml, Δ VIG-EX: −6.8 ± 66.4 ml; P = 0.771) or 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose uptake (SUVpeak Δ Control: −2.6 ± 3.1ml; Δ MOD-EX: −1.2 ± 4.8, Δ VIG-EX: −2.2 ± 5.1; p = 0.476) in either the control or the exercise groups. Thus, we did not find any evidence of an exercise-induced change on BAT volume or activity in young sedentary adults.Spanish Government PI13/01393Retos de la Sociedad DEP2016-79512-R PTA-12264IEuropean CommissionSpanish Government FPU13/04365 FPU14/04172 FPU15/04059 FPU16/03653 FPU19/01609Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia (CONACyT) 440575Fundacion Iberoamericana de Nutricion (FINUT)Redes Tematicas de Investigacion Cooperativa RETIC Red SAMID RD16/0022AstraZenecaUniversity of Granada Plan Propio de Investigacion 2016 -Excellence actions: Unit of Excellence on Exercise and Health (UCEES)Plan Propio de Investigacion 2018 -Programa Contratos-PuentePrograma Perfecionamiento de DoctoresJunta de Andalucia Consejeria de Conocimiento, Investigacion y Universidades (ERDF) SOMM17/6107/UGRJunta de Andalucia P18-RT-4455Fundacion Alfonso Martin EscuderoMaria Zambrano fellowship by the Ministerio de Universidades y la Union Europea-NextGenerationEU RR_C_2021_04Novo Nordisk FoundationNovocure Limited NNF18OC003239