Radio telemetry devices to monitor breathing in non-sedated animals

Radio telemetry equipment has significantly improved over the last 10-15 years and is increasingly being used in research for monitoring a variety of physiological parameters in non-sedated animals. The aim of this review is to provide an update on the current state of development of radio telemetry for recording respiration. Our literature review found only rare reports of respiratory studies via radio telemetry. Much of this article will hence report our experience with our custom-built radio telemetry devices designed for recording respiratory signals, together with numerous other physiological signals in lambs. Our current radio telemetry system allows to record 24 simultaneous signals 24h/day for several days. To our knowledge, this is the highest number of physiological signals, which can be recorded wirelessly. Our devices have been invaluable for studying respiration in our ovine models of preterm birth, reflux laryngitis, postnatal exposure to cigarette smoke, respiratory syncytial virus infection and nasal ventilation, all of which are relevant to neonatal respiratory problems

An herbal tea blend of hibiscus sabdariffa, zingiber officinale, and mentha spicata: a potent source of antioxidant and anti-obesity properties

© 2024 The Authors. Published by AMO Publisher. This is an open access article available under a Creative Commons licence. The published version can be accessed at the following link on the publisher’s website: https://doi.org/10.59324/ejmhr.2024.2(1).10Background: There is an urgent need to find safer and more sustainable solutions to tackle the rising global epidemic obesity and associated complications. The main objective of this study was to develop formulations of herbal tea blend from three plant species and to assess the antioxidant and antiobesogenic properties of the best formulation. Methods: The best formulation (FX) obtained (80% Hibiscus sabdariffa, 10% Zingiber officinale and 10% Mentha spicata) was validated by their better sensory acceptability and antioxidant properties. In vivo study using high-fat diet Wistar rats revealed that FX alleviated oxidative stress and metabolic disorders including those affecting hepatic and renal functions caused by high-fat died. Results: The administration of FX resulted in a reduction in food intake, body weight gain and metabolic efficiency index alongside lower blood content in triglycerides, total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, glucose, and atherogenic index when compared to the control groups. The results were comparable if not better than those obtained from the reference groups treated with a standard obesity treatment medicine, Orlistat. Conclusion: The developed herbal blend showed promising results for use as a safer product for obesity prevention and management as well as other oxidative stress-related health issues.Published onlin

La verveine officinale Verbena officinalis L. Verbénacées

Dans la famille des Verbénacées, Verbena officinalis L., la verveine officinale est une plante grêle, d'origine méditerranéenne. Elle pousse à l'état sauvage et se confond avec la verveine odorante. La légende attribue à cette " herbe aux sorciers " des origines divines, pouvoirs magiques. Elle est riche en iridoïdes, dont la verbénaline, composé le plus actif. Elle contient également des dérivés d'acide caféique, flavonoïdes, huile essentielle. La verbénaline est anti-inflammatoire, antitussive, hépatoprotectrice, parasympathomimétique. L'usage traditionnel fait de la verveine officinale, une plante emménagogue, galactogène. Aujourd'hui elle est moins utilisée en France qu'à l'étranger : ecchymoses, inflammations sont ces principales indications alors que l'Allemagne l'emploie pour les troubles respiratoires.GRENOBLE1-BU Médecine pharm. (385162101) / SudocPARIS-BIUM (751062103) / SudocSudocFranceF

Toward a phenological mismatch in estuarine pelagic food web?

International audienceAlterations of species phenology in response to climate change are now unquestionable. Until now, most studies have reported precocious occurrence of life cycle events as a major phenological response. Desynchronizations of biotic interactions, in particular predator-prey relationships, are however assumed to strongly impact ecosystems' functioning, as formalized by the Match-Mismatch Hypothesis (MMH). Temporal synchronicity between juvenile fish and zooplankton in estuaries is therefore of essential interest since estuaries are major nursery grounds for many commercial fish species. The Gironde estuary (SW France) hassuffered significant alterations over the last three decades, including two Abrupt Ecosystem Shifts (AES), and three contrasted intershift periods. The main objective of this study was to depict modifications in fish and zooplankton phenology among inter-shift periods and discuss the potential effects of the resulting mismatches at a community scale. A flexible Bayesian method was used to estimate and compare yearly patterns of species abundance in the estuary among the three pre-defined periods. Results highlighted (1) an earlier peak of zooplankton production and entrance of fish species in the estuary and (2) a decrease inresidence time of both groups in the estuary. Such species-specific phenological changes led to changes in temporal overlap between juvenile fish and their zooplanktonic prey. This situation questions the efficiency and potentially the viability of nursery function of theGironde estuary, with potential implications for coastal marine fisheries of the Bay of Biscay

Quand il faut plus chaud les poissons sont-ils en retard à la cantine ?

International audienceImagine you are a young and hungry fish looking for food in an estuary (the part of a river where it meets the ocean). You need to grow big and strong before you migrate to the ocean, and depend on tiny floating creatures (plankton) for food. However, the occurrence of these tiny creatures in the estuary varies seasonally. Lucky for you, nature has synchronized both your time in the estuary and that of your prey, and you survive. This synchronization depends on many different factors, among them the temperature of the water. Now imagine someone turning up the heat (like we humans are doing by changing the climate). Could the rising water temperatures mess up the timing for you, the predator, and your prey? To answer this question we looked at climate related changes in the synchronization of predator and prey in the biggest estuary in Western Europe. And indeed, we found signs of temporal mismatches in its aquatic food web. We fear that the observed changes can put this important ecosystem and its role as a big fish nursery at risk.Imagine que tu sois un poisson jeune et affamé à la recherche de nourriture dans un estuaire (la partie d'une rivière où elle rencontre l'océan). Tu dois devenir grand et fort avant de nager vers l'océan, et tu dépends de minuscules animaux flottants : le plancton pour manger. Cependant, la présence de ces créatures dans l'estuaire varie selon les saisons. Heureusement pour toi, la nature a fait en sorte que tu sois dans l'estuaire en même temps que ton repas et donc tu survivras (on parle alors de synchronisation). Cette synchronisation dépend néanmoins de nombreux paramètres, comme la température de l'eau. Maintenant, imagine que quelqu'un fasse monter cette température (comme nous, les humains, en changeant le climat). Cette augmentation de la température peut-elle perturber ton calendrier et celui des animaux que tu manges (tes proies) ? Pour répondre à la question, nous avons examiné la synchronisation de plusieurs espèces de poissons (prédateurs) avec celle de leurs proies dans le plus grand estuaire d'Europe occidentale (La Gironde) et son lien avec le changement du climat. Et en effet, nous avons trouvé des signes de décalage au sein de la chaine alimentaire. Nous craignons que les changements observés ne mettent en péril la fonction de nourricerie de cet écosystème

Study on the local know-how of the use of beef hides in western Cameroon meals

The current study was conducted in four localities in the West region of Cameroon from May to September 2019, to know the pre-treatments made on given to beef hides before their use in different dishes, as well as the ingredients used in the preparation of pepper soup beef hides through household surveys. A total of 307 housewives were surveyed interviewed. The data was collected using a questionnaire and further analyzed using Sphinx Plus2 V5 software. Results showed that 54.6 to 71% participants consumed beef hides monthly. More than 50% participants purchased their beef hides at the butchery at a price varying between XAF 1,000 for 1Kg of uncleaned smoked beef hides and XAF 3,000 for 2Kg of clean smoked beef hides. The results also showed that there were five main stages in the preparation of beef hides and housewives had a greater preference of beef hides from the head and buttocks. The pre-cooking of beef hides was done between 180 and 240 minutes, with a quantity of water varying between 4 and 5 liters for 1 to 2Kg of beef hides, on the wood fire. “Eru” and “Yellow achu sauce” were cited as the main sauces in which beef hides were used at 95.40% and 85% respectively. Besides, more than 70% of housewives used a maximum of five ingredients for the preparation of pepper soup beef hides. Our findings revealed, interesting insights on the steps and ingredients used when preparing pepper soup beef hides that will be of great importance in the development of better formulation for pepper soup beef hides preparatio

Dietary bioaccumulation of persistent organic pollutants in the common sole Solea solea in the context of global change. Part 2: Sensitivity of juvenile growth and contamination to toxicokinetic parameters uncertainty and environmental conditions variability in estuaries

The amount of potentially toxic chemicals in a fish depends on various environmental factors, such as temperature and feeding ecology, which can be affected by Global Changes (GC). The main objective of the present work was to study the relative influence of temperature, food quality and food availability on the growth and contamination of juveniles of common sole (Solea solea), a marine flatfish species known to be a relevant indicator of the nursery quality. It focuses on two Persistent Organic Pollutants (CB153 and L-PFOS) of legacy and emerging concern, respectively. To achieve this, we used a toxicokinetic (TK) model in which toxicant flows are mechanistically predicted using a bioenergetic model based on the Dynamic Energy Budget (DEB) theory. This modelling framework was applied to juvenile sole from the Gironde estuary (SW France) and allows accounting for the influence of environmental conditions on fish biological processes involved in toxicant fluxes. To compare their respective influence on model predictions of age, length, and contamination at puberty, we included in a global sensitivity analysis: (1) environmental variability gathered from literature for this particular estuary and (2) TK parameters (i.e. assimilation efficiency AE and elimination rate ) variability and uncertainty gathered from literature about each contaminant but for different fish species and experimental conditions. Then, model predictions were confronted to fish contamination measurements from the Gironde Estuary with different combinations of TK parameter values from literature. Results highlighted a key role of diet composition on fish contamination and growth while water temperature only affected growth. It stressed the need to focus on GC impact on benthic communities and their consequences on juvenile fish diet for future work on GC scenarios. Furthermore, for both chemical, the range of variability of TK parameters from experiments led to underestimated fish contaminations. The best model fits were obtained using TK parameter values from model applications: from Mounier et al. (n.d.) for CB153 (Solea solea, experiment, AE=0.8 and =0 d−1) and from de Vos et al. (2008) for PFOS (food chain of the Western Scheldt estuary, The Netherlands, AE=0.8 and =0.8 10−2.d−1)

EStimating Contaminants tRansfers Over Complex food webs (ESCROC): An innovative Bayesian method for estimating POP's biomagnification in aquatic food webs

International audiencePollution greatly impacts ecosystems health and associated ecological functions. Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) are among the most studied contaminants due to their persistence, bioaccumulation, and toxicity potential. Biomagnification is often described using the estimation of a Trophic Magnification Factor (TMF). This estimate is based on the relationship between contamination levels of the species and their trophic level. However, while the estimation can be significantly biased in relation to multiple sources of uncertainty (e.g. species physiology, measurement errors, food web complexity), usual TMF estimation methods typically do not allow accounting for these potential biases. More accurate and reliable assessment tool of TMFs and their associated uncertainty are therefore needed in order to appropriately guide chemical pollution management. The present work proposes a relevant and innovative TMF estimation method accounting for its many variability sources. The ESCROC model (EStimating Contaminants tRansfers Over Complex food webs), which is implemented in a Bayesian framework, allows for a more reliable and rigorous assessment of contaminants trophic magnification, in addition to accurate estimations of isotopes trophic enrichment factors and their associated uncertainties in food webs. Similar to classical mixing models used in food web investigations, ECSROC computes diet composition matrices using isotopic composition data while accounting for contamination data, leading to more robust food web descriptions. As a demonstration of the practical application of the model, ESCROC was implemented to revisit the trophic biomagnification of 5 polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in a complex estuarine food web (the Gironde, SW France). In addition to the TMF estimate and 95% confidence intervals, the model provided biomagnification probabilities associated to the investigated contaminants

Magnitude of overlap modification between predator and prey: Values extracted from S4 Fig indicate the magnitude of overlap changes between predator/prey couples.

<p>Dark-grey boxes show the undocumented situations of predatory/prey interactions. Light-grey boxes show the situations without changes in predator/prey overlap.</p