Effect of liquid whey feeding on fecal microbiota of mature and growing pigs

The effect of liquid whey feeding on fecal bacteria and their metabolites was assessed in five pregnant sows and 66 growing pigs. Sows were fed a control diet for 4 weeks (control period) followed by the same diet but with whey feeding (5 L/day/pig) for 4 weeks (whey period). One group of growing pigs was given 267 L of whey per pig (whey group), while the other group was not (control group). In both cases, liquid whey was given separately from control diet. Sows in the whey period had feces showing lower pH, lower ammonia concentration, and larger population sizes of total bacteria, lactobacilli, and bifidobacteria. The bacterial gene library analysis indicated that Mitsuokella and Megasphaera were more frequently detected, while Clostridium disporicum were detected less frequently in the whey period. Feces from whey-fed growing pigs showed lower pH than that from control pigs in the early stage of growing. Also, larger populations of total bacteria, lactobacilli, and bifidobacteria were recorded in the whey group. From the analysis of bacterial gene library, the detection frequency of Lactobacillus reuteri tended to be higher in the whey group. These results indicate that whey feeding influences the hindgut microbiota of pigs, possibly leading to a fermentation shift that is favorable for animal health

Gap Effect Abnormalities during a Visually Guided Pro-Saccade Task in Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that starts in early childhood and has a comprehensive impact on psychosocial activity and education as well as general health across the lifespan. Despite its prevalence, the current diagnostic criteria for ADHD are debated. Saccadic eye movements are easy to quantify and may be a quantitative biomarker for a wide variety of neurological and psychiatric disorders, including ADHD. The goal of this study was to examine whether children with ADHD exhibit abnormalities during a visually guided pro-saccadic eye-movement and to clarify the neurophysiological mechanisms associated with their behavioral impairments. Thirty-seven children with ADHD (aged 5-11 years) and 88 typically developing (TD) children (aged 5-11 years) were asked to perform a simple saccadic eye-movement task in which step and gap conditions were randomly interleaved. We evaluated the gap effect, which is the difference in the reaction time between the two conditions. Children with ADHD had a significantly longer reaction time than TD children (p < 0.01) and the gap effect was markedly attenuated (p < 0.01). These results suggest that the measurement of saccadic eye movements may provide a novel method for evaluating the behavioral symptoms and clinical features of ADHD, and that the gap effect is a potential biomarker for the diagnosis of ADHD in early childhood

Cumulative distribution of the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (auROC).

<p>The red line shows the cumulative percentage for children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and the black line shows the cumulative percentage for typically developing (TD) children. An auROC > 0.5 indicates a shorter reaction time in gap trials than in step trials, i.e., the existence of a gap effect. A Wilcoxon rank-sum test revealed that the distribution of the auROC was significantly smaller for ADHD than for TD (p = 0.00281).</p

Saccade reaction time during gap and step trials.

<p>Data are shown for children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (A) and typically developing (TD) children (B). Black circles with continuous lines represent gap trials and white circles with broken lines represent step trials. Error bars denote the standard deviation.</p

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Rating Scale (ADHD-RS) score in ADHD children.

<p>The bars indicate the average score on the impulsivity/hyperactivity section of the ADHD-RS, the inattention section of the ADHD-RS, and the total ADHD-RS score for all 37 children with ADHD. Error bars denote the standard deviation.</p