The effect of feeding rosemary, oregano, saffron and &#945-tocopheryl acetate on hen performance and oxidative stability of eggs

In this study the effects of feeding rosemary, oregano, saffron and α-tocopheryl acetate on hen performance and egg quality were investigated. One hundred-twenty Lohmann laying hens, 32 weeks old, were divided into five groups replicated four times with six hens per replicate. One group was given a basal diet and served as control (CON). The experimental diets given to the other four groups were based on the basal diet but contained an additional 200 mg α-tocopheryl acetate/kg (TOC), or rosemary at 5 g/kg diet (ROS), oregano at 5 g/kg diet (ORE) or saffron at 20 mg/kg diet (SAF). At the end of the feeding trial that lasted 56 days, hen performance and some egg quality characteristics were determined, whereas the oxidative stability of the refrigerated stored shell eggs and liquid yolks were also examined. Results showed no significant differences in egg production, feed intake, feed conversion ratio, egg weight and shape, yolk shape, Haugh units and shell thickness among treatments. However, yolk colour was significantly improved in the SAF group compared to all other groups. The extent of lipid oxidation in shell eggs differed among the dietary treatments, but did not change with storage time. In liquid yolk at pH 6.2, lipid oxidation was higher in the CON group compared to all other groups. The ORE group presented lower oxidation rate than the ROS group, but higher than the SAF group, which in turn exhibited higher oxidation rate than the TOC group. When liquid yolk was acidified to pH 4.2, the lipid oxidation profile remained unchanged but the rate was much more intense. Keywords: Rosemary; oregano; saffron; α-tocopherol acetate;egg quality; hen performance; oxidative stability South African Journal of Animal Sciences Vol. 35 (3) 2005: pp.143-15

Antimicrobial de-escalation in the critically ill patient and assessment of clinical cure: the DIANA study

Purpose: The DIANA study aimed to evaluate how often antimicrobial de-escalation (ADE) of empirical treatment is performed in the intensive care unit (ICU) and to estimate the effect of ADE on clinical cure on day 7 following treatment initiation. Methods: Adult ICU patients receiving empirical antimicrobial therapy for bacterial infection were studied in a prospective observational study from October 2016 until May 2018. ADE was defined as (1) discontinuation of an antimicrobial in case of empirical combination therapy or (2) replacement of an antimicrobial with the intention to narrow the antimicrobial spectrum, within the first 3 days of therapy. Inverse probability (IP) weighting was used to account for time-varying confounding when estimating the effect of ADE on clinical cure. Results: Overall, 1495 patients from 152 ICUs in 28 countries were studied. Combination therapy was prescribed in 50%, and carbapenems were prescribed in 26% of patients. Empirical therapy underwent ADE, no change and change other than ADE within the first 3 days in 16%, 63% and 22%, respectively. Unadjusted mortality at day 28 was 15.8% in the ADE cohort and 19.4% in patients with no change [p = 0.27; RR 0.83 (95% CI 0.60\u20131.14)]. The IP-weighted relative risk estimate for clinical cure comparing ADE with no-ADE patients (no change or change other than ADE) was 1.37 (95% CI 1.14\u20131.64). Conclusion: ADE was infrequently applied in critically ill-infected patients. The observational effect estimate on clinical cure suggested no deleterious impact of ADE compared to no-ADE. However, residual confounding is likely

Stakeholder involvement through national panels and surveys to address the issues and uncertainties arising in the preparedness and management of the transition phase

Under the framework of the CONFIDENCE project, work package 4 was focusing on the transition to long-term recovery, involving stakeholders in decision-making processes. The essential research was performed using a participatory approach, which combined scenario-based stakeholder discussion panels and transnational stakeholder surveys following the Delphi methodology. The objective was to identify and address the issues and uncertainties arising in the preparedness and management of the transition phase and to explore ways to facilitate the incorporation of stakeholders' expertise, points of view and interests in the decision-making processes. The final goal was to build best practices for planning optimal remediation strategies during the transition phase considering stakeholder involvement in the decision-making process. The results obtained from the work undertaken in nine European countries are presented.</p