Rab14 regulates the maturation of macrophage phagosomes containing the fungal pathogen Candida albicans and the outcome of the host-pathogen interaction

Date of Acceptance: 02/02/2015 Copyright © 2015, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Nutrient composition, pest and microbial status and effects of discarded biscuits on the growth performance, carcass characteristics and economic profiles of growing-finishing pigs

A ten-week experiment was conducted to evaluate discarded biscuits (DB) as an alternative to maize in pig diets. Proximate composition, pest and microbial status of the DB and its effects on growth performance, economics of production and carcass characteristics of growing-finishing pigs were determined. Twenty Large White starter pigs aged 9-10 weeks with an average initial weight of 16.6kg were allotted to 4 dietary treatments with 5 replicates in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) based on their weight and sex. They were fed ad libitum with isonitrogenous diets containing 0%, 10%, 20% and 30% levels of DB replacing similar amounts of maize and labelled 0%DB (Control), 10%DB, 20%DB and 30%DB, respectively. Prior to the feeding trial, samples of the DB were studied for their proximate composition, pest and microbial status. The DB contained 17.0% moisture, 9.90% crude protein (CP), 0.63% crude fibre (CF), 11.0% ether extract (EE), 0.50% ash and 60.97% nitrogen-free extract (NFE). Tribolium species was the main insect pest identified in the samples; both live and dead forms were observed. The microbial analysis uncovered three (3) fungi species, namely Penicillium sp., Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus versicolor with Penicillium sp. being the most dominant. There were no significant (P>0.05) differences in the values for the average daily feed intake (ADFI), total feed intake (ATFI), daily weight gain (ADWG), total weight gain (ATWG) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) for the four dietary treatments. There was a linear decrease in feed cost as the level of DB increased in the diet, and the cost of gain followed a similar trend. Carcass characteristics were similar (P>0.05). It was concluded that DB could constitute as much as 30% of the diet and replace about 60% of the maize in the diet of growing pig without any adverse effect on growth performance and carcass characteristics.Keywords: Back fat, discarded biscuit, carcass, insect pests, microbial status, pig

Strangeness Enhancement in p+p, p+Pb and Pb+Pb Collisions at LHC Energies

We investigate whether the quark gluon plasma (QGP) is created in small colliding systems from analyses of various hadron yields and their ratios in proton-proton (p+p), proton-lead (p+Pb) and lead-lead (Pb+Pb) collisions at LHC energies. Recently, the ALICE Collaboration reports enhancement of yield ratio of multi-strange hadrons to charged pions as a function of multiplicity at mid-rapidity. Motivated by these results, we develop the dynamical core-corona initialization framework and find that our results describe tendencies of the ALICE data especially for multi-strange hadrons. These results indicate that the QGP is partly formed in high multiplicity events in small colliding systems.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures; contribution to the proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Quarks and Nuclear Physics (QNP2018), Tsukuba, November 13-17, 201

Anomalous shell effect in the transition from a circular to a triangular billiard

We apply periodic orbit theory to a two-dimensional non-integrable billiard system whose boundary is varied smoothly from a circular to an equilateral triangular shape. Although the classical dynamics becomes chaotic with increasing triangular deformation, it exhibits an astonishingly pronounced shell effect on its way through the shape transition. A semiclassical analysis reveals that this shell effect emerges from a codimension-two bifurcation of the triangular periodic orbit. Gutzwiller's semiclassical trace formula, using a global uniform approximation for the bifurcation of the triangular orbit and including the contributions of the other isolated orbits, describes very well the coarse-grained quantum-mechanical level density of this system. We also discuss the role of discrete symmetry for the large shell effect obtained here.Comment: 14 pages REVTeX4, 16 figures, version to appear in Phys. Rev. E. Qualities of some figures are lowered to reduce their sizes. Original figures are available at http://www.phys.nitech.ac.jp/~arita/papers/tricirc

Effect of Processing Method on the Quality of Palm Kernel Cake: Chemical Composition and Nutrient Utilization in Enzyme Supplemented Diets

Abstract. The feed value of palm kernel cake (PKC) from two expeller sites and two hydrothermal production facilities were assessed using 30 laboratory rats as a model. Following chemical analysis, the PKC were incorporated at 0% (control, CON) or 35% (w/w) into isonitrogenous maize-based diets (2.9% N, DM basis) and fed to individually caged albino rats for 28 day. All PKC diets included 0.5% (w/w) Alzyme Vegpro (Alltech Canada, Guelph, ON). PKC from expellers (E1, E2) contained more  fatty acids (FA) and less crude protein (CP) than did PKC from hydrothermal production (H1, H2), averaging 15.8% vs 7.7% FA and 13.3% vs. 19.7% CP (DM basis), respectively. Lauric, oleic, myristic and palmitic acids were predominant in PKC, accounting for 84% of total FA. E1 and E2 had higher essential amino acid contents (average 67.1% of total AA) than did H1 or H2 (average 64.1%). Gain and feed efficiency (FE; feed/gain) were similar between rats fed E1 or E2 diets and those fed CON (2.1 and 2.2 g/d vs. 2.2 g/d; 4.7 and 4.3 g/d vs. 5.3, respectively), but were reduced in rats fed H1 or H2 diets (1.5 and 1.3 g/d gain; 7.1 and 7.0 FE) compared with CON. This study indicated that expeller-produced PKC could potentially be included in maize-based starter diets for pigs at up to 35% with no adverse effects on growth. Key words: Amino acid, fatty acid, expeller, hydrothermal Abstrak. Nilai pakan PKC dari dua expeller dan dua fasilitas produksi hidrotermal diukur menggunakan 30 mencit sebagai model. PKC dianalisa secara kimiawi dengan kadar 0% (kontrol, CON) atau 355 (w/w) ke dalam pakan berbahan dasar jagung isonitrogen (2.9% N, BK) dan diberikan kepada mencit albino yang dikandangkan secara individu selama 28 hari. Semua pakan PKC mencakup 0.5%(w/w) Alzyme Vegpro (Alltech Canada, Guelph, ON). PKC expeller (E1, E2) mengandung lebih banyak asam lemak (FA) dan lebih sedikit protein kasar (PK) daripada PKC dari produksi hidrotermal (H1, H2), dengan kisaran 15,8% vs 7,7% FA dan 13,3% vs 19,7% PK (berdasarkan BK). Asam laurat, oleat, miristat dan palmitat mendominasi PKC, mencakup 845 dari total asam lemak. E1 dan E2 mempunyai kandungan asam amino esensial (rata-rata 67,1 dari total asam amino) daripada H1 dan H2 (rata-rata 64,1%). Efisiensi pakan dan pertumbuhan (FE; pakan/bijian) sama antara tikus yang diberi pakan E1 atau E2 dengan yang diberi CON (2,1 dan 2,2 g/hari vs. 2,2 g/hari; 4,7 dan 4,3 g/hari vs. 5,3), namun berkurang pada tikus yang diberi pakan H1 atau H2 (1,5 and 1,3 g/hari; 7,1 dan 7,0 FE) dibandingkan dengan CON. Penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa PKC expeller berpotensi disertakan dalam pakan berbahan dasar jagung untuk babi hingga kadar 35% tanpa berpengaruh buruk terhadap pertumbuhan. Kata kunci: Asam amino, asam lemak, expeller, hidroterma

Nutritional evaluation of some new maize varieties: Effects on growth performance and carcass traits of Albino rats

A study was carried out to ascertain the effects some new maize varieties: Obatanpa (OB), Opeaburoo (OP), Honampa (HO), Aseda (AS), Tintim (TT), Owanwa (OW) and Odomfo (OD) on the growth performance and carcass traits of albino rats. Aseda, Opeaburoo and Tintim are all white varieties and have been described as being moderately tolerant to drought and good for domestic purposes. Owanwa, Odomfo and Honampa on the other hand are all yellow varieties. The OW and OD varieties have a pro-vitamin A content of 6μg/g whilst HO has a pro-vitamin A content of 7μg/g. Obatanpa (OB) is a white and an open-pollinated Quality Protein Maize (QPM) variety grown widely by farmers in Ghana. Thirty-five weanling Wistar® rats with an average initial live weight of 36g were randomly allocated to seven isocaloric dietary treatments in a completely randomized design (CRD). There were five rats on each treatment, housed individually in plastic cages and each rat served as a replicate. Their growth performance was monitored for 28 days, after which the rats were euthanized and dissected to collect carcass data. The mean daily feed intakes and weight gains were similar (P>0.05) for the rats on the various dietary treatments. The feed conversion ratios (FCR) as well as feed cost per 100g weight gain were not significantly (P>0.05) influenced by the variety of maize in the diets. The abdominal fat colour score was affected by the dietary treatments with HO, OD and OW scoring 2 while treatments OB, OP, AS and TT scored 1. The carcass characteristics of all the albino rats on the seven dietary treatments were similar (P>0.05) except for empty gastrointestinal tract (GIT) weights which were higher (P<0.05) for HO and OD treatments. It was concluded that since the growth performance indicators were similar for all the dietary treatments, farmers can utilize any of these new varieties in their feeding operations but where enhanced carcass colour is desired HO, OD and OW could be the varieties of choice.Keywords: Carcass, carotene, colour, drought tolerance, maize, obatanpa, variety, yiel

SOCS3 is a modulator of human macrophage phagocytosis

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This work was supported by Kidney Research UK (Grant Number RP1/2012). The authors thank the staff of the Aberdeen Microscopy and Histology Core Facility for advice and technical assistance. The authors acknowledge and are grateful to all volunteers for donating blood for macrophage and neutrophil isolation.Peer reviewedPublisher PD