Improvement of sheep welfare and milk production fed on diet containing hydroponically germinating seeds.

Plasma cortisol and milk production responses of 45 lactating Comisana sheeps (4th- 5th parity), divided into three homogeneous groups of 15 subject each, were used to evaluate the effects of two different levels of partial substitution of a complete feed with hydroponically germinating seeds. Germinated oat was employed after 7 days of hydroponic growth. The three groups received the following diets: Control group (T) received only complete feed. The other 2 groups were fed on diet containing different levels of hydroponically germinating oat (1,5 kg – group A; 3 kg – group B). All the subjects have shown to accept the diets because the per capita ration was always completely consumed. In the second month, the A and B groups showed lower average values of cortisol (P<0.01) and a statistically significant increase in milk production as compared to T (P<0.05 and P<0.001). The obtained data induced to conclude that integration with hydroponically germinating oat in partial substitution of the complete feed does not modify biochemical and hematological parameters and seems to produce an improvement in animal welfare and production of milk

evaluation of animal welfare and milk production of goat fed on diet containing hydroponically germinating seeds

Hydroponic fodder is a particularly nutritious feed, rich in protein and vitamins such as ß-carotene, trace elements and enzymes. It may also offer the advantage of a continuous availability. A pilot plant for hydroponically production of germinating seeds was built in an area of the same farm where the trial took place. Three homogeneous groups of 30 Jonica breed goats in lactation (4th-5th parity) were used to evaluate the effects of two different levels of partial dietary substitution with hydroponically germinating (h.g.) oat on plasma levels of cortisol and milk production. Germinated oat was used after 7 days of hydroponic growth. Control group (T) received only feed (fodder and oat integrated with complement feed). The other 2 groups were fed on diet containing different levels (1,5Kg - group A; 3Kg - group B) of hydroponically germinating oat. Goats showed a small interest in fresh feed during the trial period. The integration with hydroponically germinating oat in partial substitution of the traditional feed in the diet of goat did not significantly affect biochemical and haematological parameters

Butyrate modulating effects on pro-inflammatory pathways in human intestinal epithelial cells

Butyrate acts as energy source for intestinal epithelial cells and as key mediator of several immune processes, modulating gene expression mainly through histone deacetylation inhibition. Thanks to these effects, butyrate has been proposed for the treatment of many intestinal diseases. Aim of this study was to investigate the effect of butyrate on the expression of a large series of target genes encoding proteins involved in pro-inflammatory pathways. We performed quantitative real-time-PCR analysis of the expression of 86 genes encoding proteins bearing to pro-inflammatory pathways, before and after butyrate exposure, in primary epithelial cells derived from human small intestine and colon. Butyrate significantly down-regulated the expression of genes involved in inflammatory response, among which nuclear factor kappa beta, interferon-gamma, Toll like 2 receptor and tumour necrosis factor-alpha. Further confirmations of these data, including studies at protein level, would support the use of butyrate as effective therapeutic strategy in intestinal inflammatory disorders

Histochemical analysis of glycoconjugates in the domestic cat testis

The localization and characterization of oligosaccharide sequences in the cat testis was investigated using 12 lectins in combination with the ßelimination reaction, N-Glycosidase F and sialidase digestion. Leydig cells expressed O-linked glycans with terminal aGalNAc (HPA reactivity) and N-glycans with terminal/internal aMan (Con A affinity). The basement membrane showed terminal Neu5Aca2,6Gal/GalNAc, Galß1,3GalNAc, a/ßGalNAc, and GlcNAc (SNA, PNA, HPA, SBA, GSA II reactivity) in O-linked oligosaccharides, terminal Galß1,4GlcNAc (RCA120 staining) and aMan in N-linked oligosaccharides; in addition, terminal Neu5Aca2,3Galß1,4GlcNac, Forssman pentasaccharide, aGal, aL-Fuc and internal GlcNAc (MAL II, DBA, GSA I-B4, UEA I, KOH-sialidase-WGA affinity) formed both O- and N-linked oligosaccharides. The Sertoli cells cytoplasm contained terminal Neu5Ac- Galß1,4GlcNAc, Neu5Ac-ßGalNAc as well as internal GlcNAc in O-linked glycans, aMan in N-linked glycoproteins and terminal Neu5Aca2,6Gal/ GalNAc in both O- and N-linked oligosaccharides. Spermatogonia exhibited cytoplasmic N-linked glycoproteins with aMan residues. The spermatocytes cytoplasm expressed terminal Neu5Aca2,3Galß1,4 GlcNAc and Galß1,3GalNAc in O-linked oligosaccharides, terminal Galß1,4GlcNAc and a/ßGalNAc in N-linked glycoconjugates. The Golgi region showed terminal Neu5aca2,3Galß1,4GlcNac, Galß1,4GlcNAc, Forssman pentasaccharide, and aGalNAc in O-linked oligosaccharides, aMan and terminal ßGal in N-linked oligosaccharides. The acrosomes of Golgi-phase spermatids expressed terminal Galß1,3GalNAc, Galß1,4GlcNAc, Forssmann pentasaccharide, a/ßGalNAc, aGal and internal GlcNAc in O-linked oligosaccharides, terminal a/ßGalNAc, aGal and terminal/internal aMan in N-linked glycoproteins. The acrosomes of cap-phase spermatids lacked internal Forssman pentasaccharide and aGal, while having increased a/ßGalNAc. The acrosomes of elongated spermatids did not show terminal Galß1,3GalNAc, displayed terminal Galß1,4GlcNAc and a/ßGalNAc in N-glycans and Neu5Ac-Galß1,3GalNAc in O-linked oligosaccharides

Physical activity regulates tnfα and il-6 expression to counteract inflammation in cystic fibrosis patients

Background: Cystic fibrosis (CF) is one of the most common inherited diseases. It is characterised by a severe decline in pulmonary function associated with metabolic perturbations and an increased production of inflammatory cytokines. The key role of physical activity (PA) in improving the health status of CF patients and reducing lung function decline has recently been demonstrated. This study evaluated interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumour necrosis factor α (TNFα) expression in two subgroups of CF patients classified based on PA. Methods: We selected 85 CF patients; half of them regularly undertook supervised PA in the three years leading up to the study and half of them were not physically active. Patients were analysed for serum IL-6 and TNFα levels using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. Results: We found that the expression levels of IL-6 and TNFα differed in terms of their regulation by PA. In particular, TNFα levels negatively correlated with FEV1% decrease/year and FEV1% decrease (p = 0.023 and p = 0.02, respectively), and positively correlated with serum fasting glucose (p = 0.019) in PA CF patients. In contrast, in the NPA subgroup, TNFα levels were positively correlated with IL-6 (p = 0.001) and negatively correlated with adiponectin (p = 0.000). In addition, multiple logistic regression analysis confirmed that PA is an independent modulator of the inflammatory state. Conclusions: PA modulates inflammatory processes in CF patients by regulating the secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines and thus ameliorating lung function. Our data show that PA is a useful complementary strategy in the management of CF and that TNFα may be a marker of these effects of PA

Carbapenem resistance in Acinetobacter baumannii: the molecular epidemic features of an emerging problem in health care facilities

Acinetobacter baumannii is an opportunistic gram-negative pathogen with increasing relevance in a variety of nosocomial infections especially among intensive-care-unit (ICU) patients. Carbapenems have been widely used to treat serious multidrug-resistant A. baumannii infections; however, incidences of carbapenem-resistant A. baumannii are rising in several parts of the world and large and sustained outbreaks caused by such bacteria have been described. Carbapenem-resistant A. baumannii epidemics are sustained by clusters of highly similar strains that successfully spread among different cities and countries; their resistance phenotype is mainly due to the acquisition of carbapenem-hydrolyzing class D β-lactamase (CHDL) genes flanked by insertion sequence (IS) elements. Multi-facility outbreaks can be also sustained by inter-hospital transfer of colonized patients. Here, we review the global epidemiology of carbapenem-resistant A. baumannii, with the emphasis on the molecular epidemiology and genetic characterization of carbapenem resistance in epidemic strains

Editorial: Antimicrobial Resistance as a Global Public Health Problem: How Can We Address It?

No abstract availabl

PCR-based rapid genotyping of Stenotrophomonas maltophilia isolates

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>All bacterial genomes contain repetitive sequences which are members of specific DNA families. Such repeats may occur as single units, or found clustered in multiple copies in a head-to-tail configuration at specific loci. The number of clustered units per locus is a strain-defining parameter. Assessing the length variability of clusters of repeats is a versatile typing methodology known as multilocus variable number of tandem repeat analysis (MLVA).</p> <p>Results</p> <p><it>Stenotrophomonas maltophilia </it>is an environmental bacterium increasingly involved in nosocomial infections and resistant to most antibiotics. The availability of the whole DNA sequence of the <it>S. maltophilia </it>strain K279a allowed us to set up fast and accurate PCR-based diagnostic protocols based on the measurement of length variations of <it>loci </it>carrying a variable number of short palindromic repeats marking the <it>S. maltophilia </it>genome. On the basis of the amplimers size, it was possible to deduce the number of repeats present at 12 different <it>loci </it>in a collection of <it>S. maltophilia </it>isolates, and therefore label each of them with a digit. PCR-negative regions were labelled 0. Co-amplification of two pairs of <it>loci </it>provided a 4-digit code sufficient for immediate subtyping. By increasing the number of <it>loci </it>analyzed, it should be possible to assign a more specific digit profile to isolates. In general, MLVA data match genotyping data obtained by PFGE (pulsed-field gel electrophoresis). However, some isolates exhibiting the same PCR profiles at all <it>loci </it>display distinct PFGE patterns.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The utilization of the present protocol allows to type several <it>S. maltophilia </it>isolates in hours. The results are immediately interpretable without the need for sophisticated softwares. The data can be easily reproducible, and compared among different laboratories.</p

La Rete Integrata Nazionale GPS (RING): stato dell'arte a due anni dalla nascita

Le reti permanenti GPS costituiscono una importante risorsa per una serie di studi tecnologici e scientifici. La carenza di conoscenze in studi di tettonica attiva, che comprendono anche la parte di sismologia come l'accumulo di deformazione sulle faglie, è stata a lungo frenata dalla mancanza di reti permanenti GPS sufficientemente dense distribuite su tutto il territorio nazionale. In particolare, la definizione di una placca Adriatica e la sua terminazione meridionale sono ancora materia di dibattito (Oldow et al., 2002; Battaglia et al. 2004). Inoltre, di recente, alcuni importanti lavori (Hollenstein, et al. 2004; D'Agostino and Selvaggi; Serpelloni et al. 2005) hanno mostrato che valori di deformazione molto più alti di quanto si pensava prima sono stati effettivamente riscontrati nella nostra regione e che solo l'uso di una rete densa di stazioni, quindi di un campionamento ad alta densità nelle aree dove sono maggiori le velocità relative, permette di osservare in modo corretto il rilascio, o accumulo, di deformazione. Infine, il contributo della geodesia alla sismologia sta diventando sempre più importante sia nella definizione del rilascio cosismico durante un terremoto e sia nell'osservazione e modellazione dell'accumulo intersismico di deformazione elastica su faglie attive. Da qualche anno, l'Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) ha impiegato notevoli risorse e sforzi per rispondere a tali temi scientifici. Selvaggi et al. (2006) hanno gettato le basi e mostrato i primi sviluppi di una rete GPS permanente, la Rete Integrata Nazionale GPS (RING), creata con l'obiettivo di dare un forte contributo scientifico ai temi sopra citati La rete RING (Fig. 1a), nella sua completezza, rappresenta ad oggi non solo un punto di riferimento per studi di carattere scientifico ma anche una robusta infrastruttura tecnologica e informatica per l'archiviazione dei dati GPS per diverse altre reti locali e regionali (Regione Puglia, Regione Friuli, Leica Geosystems). Tali reti, contribuiscono quotidianamente all'acquisizione, all'interno di un server, di dati per un totale di oltre 300 stazioni distribuite sul territorio nazionale (Fig. 1b). Se, poi, si considera anche l'aspetto del processamento dei dati GPS, l'utilizzo di dati GPS appartenenti ad altre reti (locali, regionali o anche esterne al territorio italiano) fa sì che ogni analista utilizzi i dati, in media, di circa 650 stazioni GPS permanenti al giorno.PublishedL'Aquila - Italia1.9. TTC - Rete GPS nazionalereserve