Performance and intestinal responses to dehulling and inclusion level of Australian sweet lupins (Lupinus angustifolius L.) in diets for weaner pigs

A total of 180 entire male weaner pigs weighing 6.4 ± 0.1. kg (mean ± SEM) and housed in pairs was used in a completely randomised block design with 9 dietary treatments (n= 10 pens). Pigs were blocked based on weaning weight. The diets were (i) a wheat-based control diet containing 240. g/kg of milk products (whey and skim milk powder), and (ii) 8 diets containing whole or dehulled lupins (cv. Coromup) that substituted the milk products at 60, 120, 180 and 240. g/kg of diet (replace 25%, 50%, 75%, or 100% of the milk products in the control diets). The diets were isoenergetic [15. MJ digestible energy (DE)/kg], and were formulated to contain the same ileal standardised digestible lysine content (0.85. g/MJ DE) and ideal patterns of other essential amino acids. Pigs receiving 240. g/kg of dehulled lupins grew slower (P<0.05) than pigs fed the other diets mainly due to decreased feed intake. Pigs fed diets containing more than 180. g/kg of dehulled lupins had a higher faecal β-haemolytic Escherichia coli score on day 3 after weaning (P<0.05). Moreover, inclusion of 240. g/kg of whole lupin or more than 180. g/kg of dehulled lupins increased (P<0.001) plasma urea nitrogen (PUN) levels. Total tract apparent digestibility (TTAD) of dry matter decreased (P<0.001) in all lupin diets compared with the control diet. These data indicate that inclusion of dehulled lupin immediately after weaning should be limited to less than 180. g/kg whilst whole lupins can be included up to 240. g/kg without deleterious effects on production and intestinal health

Efficacy of a reduced protein diet on clinical expression of post-weaning diarrhoea and life-time performance after experimental challenge with an enterotoxigenic strain of Escherichia coli

Previous experiments have shown that feeding a reduced protein diet within the first 2 weeks post-weaning reduces gastrointestinal protein fermentation and clinical expression of post-weaning diarrhoea (PWD). However, growth of young pigs receiving a reduced protein diet without crystalline essential amino acids (CEAA) supplementation is depressed after weaning. It has been argued that the short-term performance reduction caused by feeding a reduced protein diet would be compensated and the lifetime performance of pigs would not be affected. An experiment was therefore conducted to examine PWD and lifetime growth of pigs after feeding a reduced protein diet without and with CEAA supplementation for 2 weeks after weaning. Two hundred individually housed pigs weaned at 21 d of age (Large White×Landrace, castrate:female ratio of 1:1, mean±SEM body weight of 5.5±0.05kg) were stratified to one of four dietary treatments (n=50): High protein+antimicrobial compound diet (HP+AMC, 230g crude protein (CP) with 2.5g lincospectin and 3g zinc oxide per kg feed), High protein diet (HP, 230gCP/kg), Reduced protein+amino acid supplemented diet (RP+AA, 185gCP/kg with added CEAA up to HP level), and Reduced protein diet (RP, 185g CP/kg without CEAA supplementation). Pigs were fed the experimental diet for 2 weeks and then all pigs were fed the same series of commercial diets until slaughter. All pigs were experimentally infected with an enterotoxigenic strain of E. coli (6 and 10mL of 1.9×109cfu/mL, serotype O149:K91:K88) at 72, and 96h after weaning. Infection increased plasma haptoglobin levels (P0.05). Carcass characteristics were not affected (P>0.05) by the treatments. The results indicate that although feeding a RP diet without CEAA supplementation decreased performance after weaning, it did not influence lifetime performance or carcass characteristics and reduced the clinical expression of PWD

Production responses to dehulling and level of inclusion of Australian Sweet lupins (Lupinus angustifolius) in weaner pig diets

It is generally perceived that high quality energy and protein sources in diets for newly-weaned pigs, such as milk powders, lactose and cooked cereals, promote better performance after weaning. However, their higher cost and stability of supply sometimes requires nutritionists to explore potential for other ingredients for use in the formulation of weaner diets. Recent research in grower pigs demonstrated that lupins could be included at up to 350g/kg in place of soybean meal, without compromising growth, carcase composition or meat quality (Kim et al., 2007). However, the use of lupins in a weaner diet to reduce or replace more expensive protein sources, such as milk products, has not been examined to date. The hypothesis tested was that increasing the concentration of whole or dehulled Australian sweet lupins in place of milk by-products such as skim milk powder and dried whey in a diet would reduce performance of weaner pigs

Broilers fed a low protein diet supplemented with synthetic amino acids maintained growth performance and retained intestinal integrity while reducing nitrogen excretion when raised under poor sanitary conditions

The present study investigated the effects of supplementing a low protein (LP) diet supplemented with key essential amino acids (AA) to broilers on growth performance, intestinal tract function, blood metabolites, and nitrogen excretion when the animals were maintained under various sanitary conditions for 35 D after hatching. Three hundred eighty-four one-day-old male broilers (Ross 308) were randomly allotted to groups that received one of 6 dietary treatments in a 2 × 3 factorial arrangement (i.e., 2 environmental conditions and 3 dietary treatments) to give 8 replicates per treatment. Broilers were challenged with 2 environmental conditions (sanitary vs. poor sanitary). The dietary treatments were (1) high protein (HP) diet, (2) LP diet, and (3) LP diet with synthetic key essential AA (LPA): the LP diet was supplemented with synthetic AA up to the required levels for broilers. On day 14, birds consumed the LP diet impaired growth performance compared with those fed the HP diet, while the average daily weight gain-to-feed conversion ratio of birds fed the LPA diet improved to the level of birds fed the HP diet under poor sanitary conditions (P < 0.05). Broilers raised under poor sanitary conditions and fed the LP diet displayed higher (P < 0.05) zonula occludens (ZO-1) expression on day 14 than broilers fed either the HP or LPA diet. Under sanitary conditions, birds fed HP and LPA diets showed higher villus height and crypt depth compared with those of broilers fed the LP diet on day 35. Moreover, broilers raised in the poor sanitary environment had higher (P < 0.05) serum endotoxins than those raised in the sanitary environment. Broilers fed the LPA diet showed reduced (P < 0.05) nitrogen excretion on days 14 and 35 compared with those fed the LP and HP diets independent of the environment. In conclusion, the LPA diet did not impair growth performance under poor sanitary conditions for 14 D after hatch while resulting in lower nitrogen excretion in any environment conditions throughout the experiment

Search for the standard model Higgs boson decaying into two photons in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV

A search for a Higgs boson decaying into two photons is described. The analysis is performed using a dataset recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC from pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV, which corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 4.8 inverse femtobarns. Limits are set on the cross section of the standard model Higgs boson decaying to two photons. The expected exclusion limit at 95% confidence level is between 1.4 and 2.4 times the standard model cross section in the mass range between 110 and 150 GeV. The analysis of the data excludes, at 95% confidence level, the standard model Higgs boson decaying into two photons in the mass range 128 to 132 GeV. The largest excess of events above the expected standard model background is observed for a Higgs boson mass hypothesis of 124 GeV with a local significance of 3.1 sigma. The global significance of observing an excess with a local significance greater than 3.1 sigma anywhere in the search range 110-150 GeV is estimated to be 1.8 sigma. More data are required to ascertain the origin of this excess.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters

Search for a W' boson decaying to a bottom quark and a top quark in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

Results are presented from a search for a W' boson using a dataset corresponding to 5.0 inverse femtobarns of integrated luminosity collected during 2011 by the CMS experiment at the LHC in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV. The W' boson is modeled as a heavy W boson, but different scenarios for the couplings to fermions are considered, involving both left-handed and right-handed chiral projections of the fermions, as well as an arbitrary mixture of the two. The search is performed in the decay channel W' to t b, leading to a final state signature with a single lepton (e, mu), missing transverse energy, and jets, at least one of which is tagged as a b-jet. A W' boson that couples to fermions with the same coupling constant as the W, but to the right-handed rather than left-handed chiral projections, is excluded for masses below 1.85 TeV at the 95% confidence level. For the first time using LHC data, constraints on the W' gauge coupling for a set of left- and right-handed coupling combinations have been placed. These results represent a significant improvement over previously published limits.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters B. Replaced with version publishe

Measurement of the Lambda(b) cross section and the anti-Lambda(b) to Lambda(b) ratio with Lambda(b) to J/Psi Lambda decays in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The Lambda(b) differential production cross section and the cross section ratio anti-Lambda(b)/Lambda(b) are measured as functions of transverse momentum pt(Lambda(b)) and rapidity abs(y(Lambda(b))) in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV using data collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC. The measurements are based on Lambda(b) decays reconstructed in the exclusive final state J/Psi Lambda, with the subsequent decays J/Psi to an opposite-sign muon pair and Lambda to proton pion, using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.9 inverse femtobarns. The product of the cross section times the branching ratio for Lambda(b) to J/Psi Lambda versus pt(Lambda(b)) falls faster than that of b mesons. The measured value of the cross section times the branching ratio for pt(Lambda(b)) > 10 GeV and abs(y(Lambda(b))) < 2.0 is 1.06 +/- 0.06 +/- 0.12 nb, and the integrated cross section ratio for anti-Lambda(b)/Lambda(b) is 1.02 +/- 0.07 +/- 0.09, where the uncertainties are statistical and systematic, respectively.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters

Search for new physics in events with opposite-sign leptons, jets, and missing transverse energy in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

A search is presented for physics beyond the standard model (BSM) in final states with a pair of opposite-sign isolated leptons accompanied by jets and missing transverse energy. The search uses LHC data recorded at a center-of-mass energy sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the CMS detector, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of approximately 5 inverse femtobarns. Two complementary search strategies are employed. The first probes models with a specific dilepton production mechanism that leads to a characteristic kinematic edge in the dilepton mass distribution. The second strategy probes models of dilepton production with heavy, colored objects that decay to final states including invisible particles, leading to very large hadronic activity and missing transverse energy. No evidence for an event yield in excess of the standard model expectations is found. Upper limits on the BSM contributions to the signal regions are deduced from the results, which are used to exclude a region of the parameter space of the constrained minimal supersymmetric extension of the standard model. Additional information related to detector efficiencies and response is provided to allow testing specific models of BSM physics not considered in this paper.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Measurement of isolated photon production in pp and PbPb collisions at sqrt(sNN) = 2.76 TeV

Isolated photon production is measured in proton-proton and lead-lead collisions at nucleon-nucleon centre-of-mass energies of 2.76 TeV in the pseudorapidity range |eta|<1.44 and transverse energies ET between 20 and 80 GeV with the CMS detector at the LHC. The measured ET spectra are found to be in good agreement with next-to-leading-order perturbative QCD predictions. The ratio of PbPb to pp isolated photon ET-differential yields, scaled by the number of incoherent nucleon-nucleon collisions, is consistent with unity for all PbPb reaction centralities.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters

Impact of statins based on high-risk plaque features on coronary plaque progression in mild stenosis lesions: results from the PARADIGM study

AimsTo investigate the impact of statins on plaque progression according to high-risk coronary atherosclerotic plaque (HRP) features and to identify predictive factors for rapid plaque progression in mild coronary artery disease (CAD) using serial coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA).Methods and resultsWe analyzed mild stenosis (25–49%) CAD, totaling 1432 lesions from 613 patients (mean age, 62.2 years, 63.9% male) and who underwent serial CCTA at a ≥2 year inter-scan interval using the Progression of AtheRosclerotic PlAque DetermIned by Computed TomoGraphic Angiography Imaging (NCT02803411) registry. The median inter-scan period was 3.5 ± 1.4 years; plaques were quantitatively assessed for annualized percent atheroma volume (PAV) and compositional plaque volume changes according to HRP features, and the rapid plaque progression was defined by the ≥90th percentile annual PAV. In mild stenotic lesions with ≥2 HRPs, statin therapy showed a 37% reduction in annual PAV (0.97 ± 2.02 vs. 1.55 ± 2.22, P = 0.038) with decreased necrotic core volume and increased dense calcium volume compared to non-statin recipient mild lesions. The key factors for rapid plaque progression were ≥2 HRPs [hazard ratio (HR), 1.89; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.02–3.49; P = 0.042], current smoking (HR, 1.69; 95% CI 1.09–2.57; P = 0.017), and diabetes (HR, 1.55; 95% CI, 1.07–2.22; P = 0.020).ConclusionIn mild CAD, statin treatment reduced plaque progression, particularly in lesions with a higher number of HRP features, which was also a strong predictor of rapid plaque progression. Therefore, aggressive statin therapy might be needed even in mild CAD with higher HRPs.Cardiolog