MicroRNA expression profiles in liver and colon of sexually immature gilts after exposure to Fusarium mycotoxins

To improve our knowledge of the role of microRNAs (miRs) in responses of the porcine digestive system to two Fusarium mycotoxins, zearalenone (ZEN) and deoxynivalenol (DON), we examined the expression of 7 miRs (miR-9, miR-15a, miR-21, miR-34a, miR-122, miR-125b, and miR-192), previously found to be deregulated in diseased liver and colon cells. In this study, immature gilts were exposed to NOEL doses of ZEN (40 μg/kg/d), DON (12 μg/kg/d), ZEN+DON (40+12 μg/kg/d), and placebo (negative control group) for 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, and 42 days. Before the treatment, expression levels of the selected miRs were measured in the liver, the duodenum, the jejunum, and the ascending and the descending colon of the gilts. Hierarchical clustering of the tissues by their miR expression profiles was consistent with what would be expected based on the anatomical locations and the physiological functions of the organs, suggesting that functions of the miRs are related to the specificities of the tissues in which they are expressed. A subset of 2 pairs of miRs (miR-21+miR-192 and miR-15a+miR-34a), which were assigned to two distinct clusters based on their tissue abundance, was then evaluated in the liver and the ascending and the descending colon during the treatment. The most meaningful results were obtained from the ascending colon, where a significant effect of the treatment was observed, suggesting that during the exposure to mycotoxins, the pathways involved in cell proliferation and survival were disordered. Changes in miR expression in the liver and the descending colon of the treated gilts were smaller, and were associated more with treatment duration than the exposure to ZEN, DON, or ZEN+DON. Further research should focus on identification of genes whose expression is regulated by these aberrantly expressed miRs. This should facilitate understanding of the miRNA-regulated biological effects of mycotoxins

Streszczanie tekstu w języku polskim

The aim of this article is to describe an existing implementation of a text summarizer for Polish, to analyze the results and propose the possibilities of further development. The problem of text summarizing has been already addressed by science but until now there has been no implementation designed for Polish. The implemented algorithm is based on existing developments in the field but it also includes some improvements. It has been optimized for newspaper texts ranging from approx. 10 to 50 sentences. Evaluation has shown that it works better than known generic summarization tools when applied to Polish.Celem artykułu jest zaprezentowanie algorytmu streszczającego teksty w języku polskim. Mimo istnienia algorytmów streszczających teksty, brak jest algorytmów dedykowanych dla języka polskiego. Przedstawiony algorytm bazuje na istniejących algorytmach streszczania tekstu, ale zawiera kilka ulepszeń. Algorytm jest przeznaczony dla streszczania tekstów prasowych liczących od 10 do 50 zdań. Przeprowadzone testy pokazują, że algorytm działa lepiej od znanych algorytmów zastosowanych dla języka polskiego

Multi-mycotoxicosis

Contamination of food and feeds with mycotoxins is a major problem of human and animal's health concern, and it is also extremely detrimental to economy. Mycotoxin-producing moulds may produce the most known mycotoxins, such as aflatoxins, ochratoxin, trichothecenes, zearalenone and fumonisin. Although toxicological, environmental and epidemiological studies have addressed the problem of these toxins one by one, more than one mycotoxin is found usually in the same contaminated commodities. That raises the incommensurable problem of multi-mycotoxicosis in which the respective metabolites are also involved. These mycotoxins bear potential toxicity leading to acute and chronic effects in humans and animals, depending on species. The mechanisms that lead to toxic effects, such as immune toxicity and carcinogenicity, are complex. The risk assessment for humans potentially exposed to multi-mycotoxins suffers very much from the lack of adequate food consumption data. Furthermore, for a given mycotoxin additive, synergism and antagonism with other mycotoxins found in the same food commodities are usually not taken into account

Dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE) residue limit exceeded in pig tissues after feed-borne exposure to maximum allowed concentration

Monitoring of undesirable substances by the European Union indicates a presence of natural and anthropogenic pollutants in animal feed that may be of concern for the producers, as well as the veterinary services. Although the literature concerning toxicity of DDT (an insecticide widely used in the past) is extensive, less attention has been focused on the biological properties of DDE and its interactions with other contaminants. This study reports on the concentration profile of p,p’-DDE and two other ogranochlorines (p,p’-DDT, p,p’-DDD) in different tissues of immature gilts after 14, 28, and 42 days of oral exposure to p,p’-DDE alone (0.5mg·kg-1feed·day-1) and in mixture with naturally occurring mycotoxin zearalenone, ZEN (0.5+0.1mg·kg-1feed·day-1). The treatment resulted in a time-dependent accumulation of p,p’-DDE in fat-rich tissues. Although the pesticide’s concentration found in the adipose tissue exceeded the FAO/WHO maximum residue limit (5mg·kg-1 of fat), human dietary risk is little, as it requires a substantial consumption of such contaminated pork fat. Importantly, the high concentration of p,p’-DDE found in the adrenal glands suggests a threat to the animals’ health. Finally, a difference in the accumulation of p,p’-DDE was observed between the groups treated with this compound alone or in mixture with ZEN. This is most likely related to growth performance of the animals, altered by the endocrine disrupting activity of both compounds. Further research should evaluate the effects of p,p-DDE at the observed concentrations on the pigs’ health status and enable the studies of possible interactions with other environmental pollutants

Dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE) residue limit exceeded in pig tissues after feed-borne exposure to maximum allowed concentration

Monitoring of undesirable substances by the European Union indicates a presence of natural and anthropogenic pollutants in animal feed that may be of concern for the producers, as well as the veterinary services. Although the literature concerning toxicity of DDT (an insecticide widely used in the past) is extensive, less attention has been focused on the biological properties of DDE and its interactions with other contaminants. This study reports on the concentration profile of p,p’-DDE and two other ogranochlorines (p,p’-DDT, p,p’-DDD) in different tissues of immature gilts after 14, 28, and 42 days of oral exposure to p,p’-DDE alone (0.5mg·kg-1feed·day-1) and in mixture with naturally occurring mycotoxin zearalenone, ZEN (0.5+0.1mg·kg-1feed·day-1). The treatment resulted in a time-dependent accumulation of p,p’-DDE in fat-rich tissues. Although the pesticide’s concentration found in the adipose tissue exceeded the FAO/WHO maximum residue limit (5mg·kg-1 of fat), human dietary risk is little, as it requires a substantial consumption of such contaminated pork fat. Importantly, the high concentration of p,p’-DDE found in the adrenal glands suggests a threat to the animals’ health. Finally, a difference in the accumulation of p,p’-DDE was observed between the groups treated with this compound alone or in mixture with ZEN. This is most likely related to growth performance of the animals, altered by the endocrine disrupting activity of both compounds. Further research should evaluate the effects of p,p-DDE at the observed concentrations on the pigs’ health status and enable the studies of possible interactions with other environmental pollutants