Combined effects of exogenous enzymes and probiotic on Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) growth, intestinal morphology and microbiome

A study was carried out to investigate the combined effect of exogenous enzymes and probiotic supplementation on tilapia growth, intestinal morphology and microbiome composition. Tilapia (34.56 ± 0.05 g) were fed one of four diets (35% protein, 5% lipid); one of which was a control and the remaining three diets were supplemented with either enzymes (containing phytase, protease and xylanase), probiotic (containing Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus licheniformis and Bacillus pumilus) or enz-pro (the combination of the enzymes and probiotic). Tilapia fed diet supplemented with enz-pro performed better (P < 0.05) than tilapia fed the control and probiotic supplemented diets in terms of final body weight (FBW), specific growth rate (SGR), feed conversion ratio (FCR) and protein efficiency ratio (PER). The dietary treatments did not affect somatic indices. The serum lysozyme activity was significantly higher (P < 0.05) in tilapia fed the probiotic supplemented diet than of those fed the remaining experimental diets. The intestinal perimeter ratio was higher (P < 0.05) in tilapia fed enz-pro supplemented diet when compared to those fed with the control and probiotic supplemented diets. Goblet cells abundance, microvilli diameter and total enterocyte absorptive surface was higher (P < 0.05) in tilapia fed diet supplemented with enz-pro than those fed the control diet. High-throughput sequencing revealed that majority of reads derived from the tilapia digesta belonged to members of Fusobacteria (predominantly Cetobacterium) distantly followed by Proteobacteria and Firmicutes. The alpha and beta diversities did not differ among dietary treatments indicating that the overall microbial community was not modified to a large extent by dietary treatment. In conclusion, supplementation of the diet with a combination of enzymes and probiotic is capable of improving tilapia growth and intestinal morphology without deleterious effect on the intestinal microbial composition

Awareness, treatment and control of hypertension: Trend from population-based surveys conducted in a low-middle income country

Aim: To estimate and determine temporal trends for awareness, treatment and control of hypertension in adults from the urban area in Colombia. Methods: We conducted two population-based surveys (years 2010 and 2015) in the Metropolitan Area of Bucaramanga-Santander, Colombia, using the WHO STEPwise approach. Participants were asked to provide demographic, socioeconomic and cardiovascular risk factors data. Blood pressure (BP) was measured twice using an automated device. Hypertension was defined as a systolic BP≥140 mmHg, a diastolic BP≥90 mmHg or self-reported antihypertensive treatment. We estimated age, sex, and socioeconomic status (SES) adjusted prevalence ratios (PR), with 2010 as the reference survey, using poisson regression and correcting standard errors by clustering. Results: We evaluated 1,136 (mean age: 35.7 years; 43% male) and 872 (mean age:37.7 years; 41% male) adults from the 2010 and 2015 surveys, respectively. There were a larger proportion of individuals sampled from low SES in the 2015 as compared to the 2010 survey (93.6% vs. 70.9%). Overall, prevalence of hypertension was 16.4% (95%CI: 14.8 – 17.9): It increased significantly with age (from 2.4% among individuals 15-19 years old to 41.1% among individuals 50 years and older; p-trend&lt;0.001) but did not differed by sex (17.8% in men vs. 15.4% in women) or year (16.1% vs. 16.6% in 2010 and 2015, respectively). Overall, prevalence of awareness, treatment and control of hypertension were 65.0%, 84.1%, and 62.2%, respectively. Although awareness and control increased from 2010 to 2015 (PR=1.05 and PR=1.12, respectively), only the prevalence of treatment showed a statistically significant increment of 11% (PR=1.11; 95%IC: 1.01 – 1.24). Implication: The STEPwise is a suitable surveillance strategy to estimate the burden of cardiovascular risk factors in low-middle income countries. Our results are consistent with national data from urban areas and show for the first time a short-time improvement in antihypertensive coverage

Rinozigomicosis y zigomicosis subcutánea en equinos, 2.Tratamiento con yoduro de potasio o acetonida de triamcinolona

In the department of Caqueta, Colombia, 31 horses affected of rhinozigomycosis (nasal granuloma) and 13 affected of zigomycosis were selected in order to evaluate the curative effect of potassium iodide (1K) and of acetonide of triamcinolone (VetalogR. In a first group, consisting of 18 animals affected of rhinozigomycosis and 4 of dermal zigomycosis, curative responses were found on 5 and 2 animals respectively, when 1K was applied intravenously (55-490 g distributed between 11 to 28 dosages). Group two, that consisted of 15 animals affected of rhinozigomycosis (include 3 non-responsive of group one) and 6 affected of dermal zigomycosis, were treated with acetonide of triamcinolone (30-150 mg, dividend on 1-3 dosages at 3 to 10 days interval, IM). Curative responses were observed on 13 and 3 animals respectively. 1K was able to produce healing of dermal and nasal cases but the success rate was low. Due to the long term treatment under field conditions there were 9 yugular extravasation causing interruption of treatments and/or death of animals. Although acetonide of triamcinolone showed a high number of curative responses at the beginning, 7 cases of rhinozigomycosis showed recurrence at 120 to 490 days after treatment. These recurrences were mainly observed on animals receiving low dosages. Triamcinolone should be used with caution, avoiding its application on pregnant or milking mares or in old or weak animals.En el departamento del Caquetá, Colombia, fueron seleccionados 31 equinos afectados de rinozigomicosis (granuloma nasal) y 13 de zigomicosis (espundia), con el fin de evaluar por separado la eficacia curativa del yoduro de potasio (IK) y de la acetonida de triamcinolona (R). En un primer grupo, de 18 animales con rinozigomicosis y 4 con zigomicosis dérmica, se obtuvieron 5 y 2 curaciones respectivamente, aplicándoles vía intravenosa, entre 55 y 490 gr de yoduro de potasio distribuidos entre 11 y 28 dosis. En un segundo grupo de 15 animales con rinozigomicosis (incluidos 3 que no curaron del primer grupo) y 6 con zigomicosis dérmica, se obtuvieron 13 y 3 curaciones respectivamente, aplicándoles vía intramuscular de 30 y 150 mgr de acetonida de triamcinolona distribuidas entre 1 y 3 dosis con intervalos de 3 a 10 días. El yoduro de potasio puede curar casos de rinozigomicosis, aunque el número de casos exitosos es bajo, por lo prolongado del tratamiento y por las condiciones de campo, se presentaron 9 extravasaciones que hicieron suspender las aplicaciones y/o causaron la muerte de los animales. Con la acetonida de triamcinolona, aunque el número de curaciones inicialmente es elevado, hubo recidiva en 7 de los casos curados de rinozigomicosis, entre los 120 y 490 días posteriores al tratamiento, presentándose esta recidiva principalmente en los animales con dosificaciones bajas. La acetonida de triamcinolona debe ser utilizada cuidadosamente, evitando aplicarla en yeguas preñadas o lactantes y en animales viejos o muy débiles.Equinos-Caballo - caballo

How to count bird calls? Vocal activity indices may provide different insights into bird abundance and behaviour depending on species traits

Passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) has become an important tool for surveying birds, and there is a growing demand for approaches to obtain abundance and behavioural information from PAM recordings. Changes in bird populations have been assessed by counting recorded calls and calculating the vocal activity rate (VAR, i.e. the number of calls per recording time). However, bird calls could be counted in various ways and depending on species traits, these call counts could give us different insights on bird abundance, vocal behaviour and/or habitat use. Our study had two goals: (1) to present and evaluate two new indices based on call counts, the detection rate (DR, i.e. the number of 1-min recordings in which the presence of a target vocalization is detected) and the maximum count per minute (MAX, i.e. the maximum number of calls found in a 1-min recording); and (2) to present a conceptual framework showing how the interpretations of VAR, DR and MAX could depend on the index and on species traits. For three Neotropical bird species with distinct traits, we calculated VAR, DR and MAX based on PAM data from 25 sites in the Yucatan Peninsula (Mexico) that varied in their degree of anthropogenic habitat disturbance. We found moderate to high correlations between the indices and higher temporal variability in VAR compared to DR and MAX. We also found different effect sizes of habitat disturbance on the three species and indices. We suggest that DR might be a more reliable index of relative abundance than VAR for species whose calling behaviour exhibits a high cue rate and that MAX may be suitable for estimating family or flock size in gregarious birds. Our findings show the potential usefulness of developing new indices based on call counts to generate ecological hypotheses and assess changes in bird abundance and behaviour

Histologic, metabolomic, and transcriptomic differences in fir trees from a peri-urban forest under chronic ozone exposure

Abstract Urbanization modifies ecosystem conditions and evolutionary processes. This includes air pollution, mostly as tropospheric ozone (O3), which contributes to the decline of urban and peri-urban forests. A notable case are fir (Abies religiosa) forests in the peripheral mountains southwest of Mexico City, which have been severely affected by O3 pollution since the 1970s. Interestingly, some young individuals exhibiting minimal O3?related damage have been observed within a zone of significant O3 exposure. Using this setting as a natural experiment, we compared asymptomatic and symptomatic individuals of similar age (≤15?years old; n?=?10) using histologic, metabolomic, and transcriptomic approaches. Plants were sampled during days of high (170?ppb) and moderate (87?ppb) O3 concentration. Given that there have been reforestation efforts in the region, with plants from different source populations, we first confirmed that all analyzed individuals clustered within the local genetic group when compared to a species-wide panel (Admixture analysis with ~1.5K SNPs). We observed thicker epidermis and more collapsed cells in the palisade parenchyma of needles from symptomatic individuals than from their asymptomatic counterparts, with differences increasing with needle age. Furthermore, symptomatic individuals exhibited lower concentrations of various terpenes (ß-pinene, ß-caryophylene oxide, α-caryophylene, and ß-α-cubebene) than asymptomatic trees, as evidenced through GC?MS. Finally, transcriptomic analyses revealed differential expression for 13 genes related to carbohydrate metabolism, plant defense, and gene regulation. Our results indicate a rapid and contrasting phenotypic response among trees, likely influenced by standing genetic variation and/or plastic mechanisms. They open the door to future evolutionary studies for understanding how O3 tolerance develops in urban environments, and how this knowledge could contribute to forest restoration

A High Fundamental Frequency (HFF)-based QCM Immunosensor for Tuberculosis Detection

Tuberculosis, one of the oldest diseases affecting human beings, is still considered as a world public health problem by the World Health Organization. Therefore, there is a need for new and more powerful analytical methods for early illness diagnosis. With this idea in mind, the development of a High Fundamental Frequency (HFF) piezoelectric immunosensor for the sensitive detection of tuberculosis was undertaken. A 38 kDa protein secreted by Mycobacterium tuberculosis was first selected as the target biomarker. Then, specific monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) were obtained. Myc-31 MAb, which showed the highest affinity to the analyte, was employed to set up a reference enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) with a limit of detection of 14 ng mL-1 of 38 kDa antigen. For the development of the HFF piezoelectric immunosensor, 100 MHz quartz crystals were used as transducer elements. The gold electrode surface was functionalized by covalent immobilization of the target biomarker through mixed self-assembled monolayers (mSAM) of carboxylic alkane thiols. A competitive immunoassay based on Myc-31 MAb was integrated with the transducer as sensing bio-recognition event. Reliable assay signals were obtained using low concentrations of antigen for functionalization and MAb for the competitive immunoassay. Under optimized conditions, the HFF immunosensor calibration curve for 38 kDa determination showed a limit of detection as low as 11 ng mL-1 of the biomarker. The high detectability attained by this immunosensor, in the picomolar range, makes it a promising tool for the easy, direct and sensitive detection of the tuberculosis biomarker in biological fluids such as sputum.This study was supported by COLCIENCIAS (Colombia), Project no. 13335212865) and by AWSensors (Valencia, Spain). All of the authors: A. Montoya, C. March, Y.J. Montagut, M.J. Moreno, J.J. Manclus, A. Arnau, Y. Jimenez, M. Jaramillo, P. A. Marin and R.A. Torres declare that they have no conflict of interest.Montoya Baides, Á.; March Iborra, MDC.; Montagut Ferizzola, YJ.; Moreno Tamarit, MJ.; Manclus Ciscar, JJ.; Arnau Vives, A.; Jiménez Jiménez, Y.... (2017). A High Fundamental Frequency (HFF)-based QCM Immunosensor for Tuberculosis Detection. Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry. 17(14):1623-1630. https://doi.org/10.2174/1568026617666161104105210S16231630171

Influence of Dietary Supplementation of Probiotic Pediococcus acidilactici MA18/5M During the Transition From Freshwater to Seawater on Intestinal Health and Microbiota of Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar L.)

publishedVersio

Congenital leptin deficiency and leptin gene missense mutation found in two colombian sisters with severe obesity

Background: Congenital leptin deficiency is a recessive genetic disorder associated with severe early-onset obesity. It is caused by mutations in the leptin (LEP) gene, which encodes the protein product leptin. These mutations may cause nonsense-mediated mRNA decay, defective secretion or the phenomenon of biologically inactive leptin, but typically lead to an absence of circulating leptin, resulting in a rare type of monogenic extreme obesity with intense hyperphagia, and serious metabolic abnormalities. Methods: We present two severely obese sisters from Colombia, members of the same lineal consanguinity. Their serum leptin was measured by MicroELISA. DNA sequencing was performed on MiSeq equipment (Illumina) of a next-generation sequencing (NGS) panel involving genes related to severe obesity, including LEP. Results: Direct sequencing of the coding region of LEP gene in the sisters revealed a novel homozygous missense mutation in exon 3 [NM_002303.3], C350G>T [p.C117F]. Detailed information and clinical measurements of these sisters were also collected. Their serum leptin levels were undetectable despite their markedly elevated fat mass. Conclusions: The mutation of LEP, absence of detectable leptin, and the severe obesity found in these sisters provide the first evidence of monogenic leptin deficiency reported in the continents of North and South America. © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland