Harnessing functional feed additives for sustainable production: the role of Bacillus coagulans and Paenibacillus polymyxa mixture in improving production and health of meat-type quails

IntroductionDespite the widespread interest in using Bacillus spp. as a probiotic in poultry diets, no evidence has been found to support the use of Paenibacillus polymyxa in the diet of Japanese quails. This study examined the effects of supplementing growing Japanese quail with a mixture of Bacillus coagulans and P. polymyxa (Bc+Pp) on their growth performance, antioxidative activity, immunological status, digestive enzymes, caecal microbiota, and blood chemistry.MethodsTwo hundred 1-week-old meat-type quail chicks were divided into four groups at random; five pens, each containing ten birds. These birds were provided with a basic feed as a control group, or a feed diet treated with 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 mg kg−1 of Bc+Pp mixture (1:1).ResultsAccording to the findings, the growing quail's growth performance was significantly (P < 0.05) enhanced by supplementing the Bc+Pp mixture. Body weight and body weight gain were boosted significantly (P = 0.0002, P = 0.0003) by Bc+Pp mixture supplementation at 5 weeks and 1–5 weeks. In contrast, feed consumption showed a non-significant difference (P = 0.8082) with the treatments within 1–5 weeks. Moreover, the feed conversion ratio was significantly (P < 0.05) boosted (P = 0.0137) with the supplementation of the Bc+Pp mixture. Furthermore, Bc+Pp mixture supplementation provided a significant boost in carcass traits, especially liver, gizzard, and giblet percentage (P = 0.0112, P = 0.0976, and P = 0.0028). The current result showed a significant (P < 0.05) increase in total protein, albumin, and globulin with supplementation of the Bc+Pp mixture. Moreover, the treatment significantly (P < 0.05) reduced total cholesterol, triglycerides, and low-density lipoprotein. Superoxide dismutase, total antioxidant capacity, reduced glutathione, and glutathione peroxidase were significantly (P < 0.05) improved by supplementation of the Bc+Pp mixture. Furthermore, the digestive enzymes were significantly (P < 0.05) improved, and the total bacterial and lactic acid bacteria counts were significantly (P < 0.05) augmented, whereas the counts of Salmonella spp., Escherichia coli, total coliform, and Enterococcus spp. were significantly (P < 0.05) decreased with dietary bacterial mixture treatments.DiscussionIn conclusion, supplementing growing Japanese quail with a mixture of Bc+Pp has a positive impact on their growth performance, antioxidative status, immunological response, digestive enzymes, and caecal microbiota

Morphological characterization, histopathological alteration, and cytokine response of different tissues of Columba livia naturally infected with Haemoproteus columbae

IntroductionHaemoproteus columbae is a common haemosporidian worldwide blood parasite affecting domestic pigeons (Columba livia). Therefore, this study aimed to detect the incidence of H. columbae infection in domestic pigeons with morpho-molecular identification.MethodsIn the current study, blood samples were collected from 125 domestic pigeons between 2023 and 2024 and analyzed using both microscopic and molecular techniques. H. columbae positive birds underwent postmortem (PM) and histopathological examinations, as well as cytokine immunological reaction assessments.ResultsIt was found that around 8% (10/125) of pigeons were positive for H. columbae infection, and their morphological characteristics were reported. H. columbae induces observable macroscopic and microscopic alterations in the infected tissues, which increases the cytokine immunological reaction in the infected birds. The infected birds suffered from severe histopathological changes in most haemopoietic and parenchymatous organs. The transcript levels of inflammatory markers such as IL-6, IFN-γ, and IL-1β were significantly upregulated in H. columbae-infected birds. Additionally, the H. columbae samples’ mRNA level of the apoptotic Cas-3 indicated apoptotic activity.DiscussionHematic parasites can pose a serious health threat to pigeons as they invade red blood cells and internal organs, leading to anemia, weakness, weight loss, and even death in severe cases. Epidemiological studies and surveys are essential for monitoring these hematologic parasites. Furthermore, additional research is recommended to evaluate the efficacy of various herbal extracts in comparison to the most frequently used drugs for managing this issue in affected pigeons

Analyzing Passive BCI Signals to Control Adaptive Automation Devices

Brain computer interfaces are currently considered to greatly enhance assistive technologies and improve the experiences of people with special needs in the workplace. The proposed adaptive control model for smart offices provides a complete prototype that senses an environment’s temperature and lighting and responds to users’ feelings in terms of their comfort and engagement levels. The model comprises the following components: (a) sensors to sense the environment, including temperature and brightness sensors, and a headset that collects electroencephalogram (EEG) signals, which represent workers’ comfort levels; (b) an application that analyzes workers’ feelings regarding their willingness to adjust to a space based on an analysis of collected data and that determines workers’ attention levels and, thus, engagement; and (c) actuators to adjust the temperature and/or lighting. This research implemented independent component analysis to remove eye movement artifacts from the EEG signals and used an engagement index to calculate engagement levels. This research is expected to add value to research on smart city infrastructures and on assistive technologies to increase productivity in smart offices.</jats:p

Pioglitazone enhances cisplatin’s impact on triple-negative breast cancer: Role of PPARγ in cell apoptosis

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma (PPARγ) has been recently shown to play a role in many cancers. The breast tissue of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients were found to have a significantly lower expression of PPARγ than the other subtypes. Furthermore, PPARγ activation was found to exert anti-tumor effects by inhibiting cell proliferation, differentiation, cell growth, cell cycle, and inducing apoptosis. To start with, we performed a bioinformatic analysis of data from OncoDB, which showed a lower expression pattern of PPARγ in different cancer types. In addition, high expression of PPARγ was associated with better breast cancer patient survival. Therefore, we tested the impact of pioglitazone, a PPARγ ligand, on the cytotoxic activity of cisplatin in the TNBC cell line. MDA-MB-231 cells were treated with either cisplatin (40 μM) with or without pioglitazone (30 or 60 μM) for 72 h. The MTT results showed a significant dose-dependent decrease in cell viability as a result of using cisplatin and pioglitazone combination compared with cisplatin alone. In addition, the protein expression of Bcl-2, a known antiapoptotic marker, decreased in the cells treated with cisplatin and pioglitazone combination at doses of 40 and 30 μM, respectively. On the other hand, cleaved- poly-ADP ribose polymerase (PARP) and -caspase-9, which are known as pro-apoptotic markers, were upregulated in the combination group compared with the solo treatments. Taken together, the addition of pioglitazone to cisplatin further reduced the viability of MDA-MB-231 cells and enhanced apoptosis compared with chemotherapy alone

Using Herbal Medicine for Dental Pain in Saudi Arabia: Prevalence and Knowledge Assessment

Background: The dental community has started to use natural plant properties to relieve dental pain. Besides their significant serious side effect, Herb’s ingredients should be chosen wisely. However, many studies are conducted to find out the herb’s information due to the lack of randomized controlled clinical trials. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence and the knowledge of the effect of using herbal medicine for dental pain among Saudi population.&#x0D; Methodology: An observational cross-sectional study was conducted in Saudi Arabia between September 2020 and October 2021. based on a structured questionnaire among Saudi populations. Structured self-administrated questionnaires in English and Arabic languages were used as a study tool. Authors collected the information using social media channels through google forms. SPSS 26 was used for data entry and data analysis.&#x0D; Results: The study included 4213 participants. 25% of study sample were males and 75% were females. 51.6% aged between 20- 30 years old. 61.8% of all participants use herbs to relieve toothache (82% of them use clove or clove oil and 36% use thyme). Think herbs are safe and free from side effects in treating toothache. 8% noticed side effects or damage while using herbs to relieve dental pain (27% of them swelling, 21% sharp stomach pain, 21% hypersensitive and 17% bleeding).&#x0D; Conclusion: The Saudi population show relatively good knowledge level and practice towards herbs use in dentistry. The use of herbs to relieve toothache was significantly associated with female gender, age, residence area in western region and average monthly income.</jats:p

Production of "biobetter" glucarpidase variants to improve drug detoxification and antibody directed enzyme prodrug therapy for cancer treatment

Recombinant glucarpidase (formerly: Carboxypeptidase G2, CPG2) is used in Antibody Directed Enzyme Prodrug Therapy (ADEPT) for the treatment of cancer. In common with many protein therapeutics, glucarpidase has a relatively short half-life in serum and, due to the need for the repeated cycles of the ADEPT, its bioavailability may be further diminished by neutralizing antibodies produced by patients. PEGylation and fusion with human serum albumin (HSA) are two approaches that are commonly employed to increase the residency time of protein therapeutics in blood, and also to increase the half-lives of the proteins in vivo. To address this stability and the immunogenicity problems, `biobetter' glucarpidase variants, mono-PEGylated glucarpidase, and HSA fused glucarpidase by genetic fusion with albumin, were produced. Biochemical and bioactivity analyses, including anti-proliferation, bioassays, circular dichroism, and in vitro stability using human blood serum and immunoassays, demonstrated that the functional activities of the designed glucarpidase conjugates were maintained. The immunotoxicity studies indicated that the PEGylated glucarpidase did not significantly induce T-cell proliferation, suggesting that glucarpidase epitopes were masked by the PEG moiety. However, free glucarpidase and HSA-glucarpidase significantly increased T-cell proliferation compared with the negative control. In the latter case, this might be due to the type of expression system used or due to trace impurities associated with the highly purified (99.99%) recombinant HSA-glucarpidase. Both PEGylated glucarpidase and HAS-glucarpidase exhibit more stability in human serum and were more resistant to key human proteases relative to native glucarpidase. To our knowledge, this study is the first to report stable and less immunogenic glucarpidase variants produced by PEGylation and fusion with HSA. The results suggest that they may have better efficacy in drug detoxification and ADEPT, thereby improving this cancer treatment strategy

Enhancing reproductive capacity in hybrid Red Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus ×‎ O. mossambicus) via dietary administration of date palm pollen (Phoenix dactylifera L.)‎

Date palm pollen (DPP), a natural resource derived from male flowers of Phoenix dactylifera, is a rich source of nutrients with potential as a valuable dietary supplement. While DPP may offer various health benefits, including potential positive effects on reproductive performance in mammals, its impact on reproductive health in fish remains largely unexplored. This trial aimed to discover the consequences of dietary administration of DPP on blood biochemistry, reproductive hormone levels, digestive enzyme activities, gonadal histology, reproductive performance, and the expression of reproductive-related genes in Red Tilapia broodstock (Oreochromis niloticus ×‎ O. mossambicus). Red Tilapia broodstock (150 ± 5.77 g), with a female: male ratio of 3:1, were fed an isonitrogenous and isocaloric basal diet (DPP0) or diets supplemented with 10 g (DPP10), 20 g (DPP20), and 40 g (DPP40) of DPP per kilogram of diet for a period of two months. GC-MS analysis of DPP revealed the presence of several bioactive compounds, including butan-1-one, tetradecanoic acid, cholestan-3-one, octasiloxane, and heptasiloxane, which have been reported to exhibit promising antimicrobial, antioxidant, and immunomodulatory properties. The results demonstrated that fish fed diets supplemented with 20 g or 40 g of DPP exhibited significantly higher levels of total protein, albumin, and globulin compared to the control group (P  0.05). Regarding reproductive hormones, testosterone levels in males were significantly increased only in the DPP40 group, while FSH, E2, progesterone, and LH were significantly elevated in all fish fed DPP in their diets (P < 0.001) related to DPP0 group. The GSI (%) and HIS (%), mean number of fry/fish, egg diameter (mm), and their weights were improved in all DPP fish groups compared to the DPP0 group. The mRNA expression levels of reproductive-related genes, including FSHR, CYP1A, ESR1, FOXL2A, and ESR2A were significantly upregulated in the gonads of fish fed DPP diets compared to the control group (P < 0.05). The gonadal histology demonstrated that DPP boosted gonad maturation histo-structure in both genders of Tilapia fish. This study demonstrates that dietary administration of DPP can significantly enhance reproductive performance in Red Tilapia by upregulating the expression of key reproductive genes and improving overall health status. These findings suggest that DPP has the potential to be a promising natural feed additive for sustainable aquaculture, particularly in enhancing the reproductive capacity of Red Tilapia broodstock