Feed Restriction Modulates the Fecal Microbiota Composition, Nutrient Retention, and Feed Efficiency in Chickens Divergent in Residual Feed Intake

Publication histroy: Accepted - 23 October 2018; Published - 19 November 2019.There is a great interest to understand the impact of the gut microbiota on host’s nutrient use and FE in chicken production. Both chicken’s feed intake and gut bacterial microbiota differ between high and low-feed efficient chickens. To evaluate the impact of the feed intake level on the feed efficiency (FE)-associated variation in the chicken intestinal microbiota, differently feed efficient chickens need to eat the same amount of feed, which can be achieved by feeding chickens restrictively. Therefore, we investigated the effect of restrictive vs. ad libitum feeding on the fecal microbiome at 16 and 29 days posthatch (dph), FE and nutrient retention in chickens of low and high residual feed intake (RFI; metric for FE). Restrictively fed chickens were provided the same amount of feed which corresponded to 85% of the ad libitum fed group from 9 dph. FE was determined for the period between 9 and 30 dph and feces for nutrient retention were collected on 31 to 32 dph. From the 112 chickens (n = 56 fed ad libitum, and n = 56 fed restrictively), 14 low RFI and 15 high RFI ad libitum fed chickens, and 14 low RFI (n = 7 per sex) and 14 high RFI restrictively fed chickens were selected as the extremes in RFI and were retrospectively chosen for data analysis. Bray-Curtis dissimilarity matrices showed significant separation between time points, and feeding level groups at 29 dph for the fecal bacterial communities. Relevance networking indicated positive associations between Acinetobacter and feed intake at 16 dph, whereas at 29 dph Escherichia/Shigella and Turicibacter positively and Lactobacillus negatively correlated to chicken’s feed intake. Enterobacteriaceae was indicative for low RFI at 16 dph, whereas Acinetobacter was linked to high RFI across time points. However, restrictive feeding-associated changes in the fecal microbiota were not similar in low and high RFI chickens, whichmay have been related to the higher nutrient retention and thus lower fecal nutrient availability in restrictively fed high RFI chickens. Thismay also explain the decreased RFI value in restrictively fed high RFI chickens indicating improved FE, with a stronger effect in females.This project (ECO-FCE) has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement No. 311794

Capturing the whole-school food environment in primary schools

Abstract Objective: The school food environment is an ideal setting for encouraging healthy dietary behaviour. We aimed to develop an instrument to assess whole-school food environments; test the instrument in the school setting; and demonstrate its use to make food environment recommendations. Design: School food environment literature and UK school food guidance was searched to inform instrument items. The instrument consisted of (i) an observation proforma capturing canteen areas systems, food presentation and monitoring of food intake, and (ii) a questionnaire assessing food policies, provision and activities. The instrument was tested in schools and used to develop school food environment recommendations. Descriptive analyses enabled narrative discussion. Setting: Primary schools. Participants: An observation was undertaken at schools in urban and rural geographical regions of Northern Ireland of varying socio-economic status (n=18). School senior management completed the questionnaire with input from school caterers (n=16). Results: The instrument captured desired detail and potential instrument modifications were identified. School food environments varied. Differences existed between food policies and how policies were implemented and monitored. At many schools there was scope to enhance physical eating environments (n=12, 67%) and food presentation (n=15, 83%); emphasise healthy eating through food activities (n=7, 78%); and increase parental engagement in school food (n=9, 56%). Conclusions: The developed instrument can measure whole-school food environments in primary schools and also enabled identification of recommendations to enhance school food environments. Further assessment and adaptation of the instrument is required to enable future use as a research tool or for self-assessment use by schools

Metformin is a metabolic modulator and radiosensitiser in rectal cancer

Resistance to neoadjuvant chemoradiation therapy, is a major challenge in the management of rectal cancer. Increasing evidence supports a role for altered energy metabolism in the resistance of tumours to anti-cancer therapy, suggesting that targeting tumour metabolism may have potential as a novel therapeutic strategy to boost treatment response. In this study, the impact of metformin on the radiosensitivity of colorectal cancer cells, and the potential mechanisms of action of metformin-mediated radiosensitisation were investigated. Metformin treatment was demonstrated to significantly radiosensitise both radiosensitive and radioresistant colorectal cancer cells in vitro. Transcriptomic and functional analysis demonstrated metformin-mediated alterations to energy metabolism, mitochondrial function, cell cycle distribution and progression, cell death and antioxidant levels in colorectal cancer cells. Using ex vivo models, metformin treatment significantly inhibited oxidative phosphorylation and glycolysis in treatment naïve rectal cancer biopsies, without affecting the real-time metabolic profile of non-cancer rectal tissue. Importantly, metformin treatment differentially altered the protein secretome of rectal cancer tissue when compared to non-cancer rectal tissue. Together these data highlight the potential utility of metformin as an anti-metabolic radiosensitiser in rectal cancer

Dissecting the Shared Genetic Architecture of Suicide Attempt, Psychiatric Disorders, and Known Risk Factors

Background Suicide is a leading cause of death worldwide, and nonfatal suicide attempts, which occur far more frequently, are a major source of disability and social and economic burden. Both have substantial genetic etiology, which is partially shared and partially distinct from that of related psychiatric disorders. Methods We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of 29,782 suicide attempt (SA) cases and 519,961 controls in the International Suicide Genetics Consortium (ISGC). The GWAS of SA was conditioned on psychiatric disorders using GWAS summary statistics via multitrait-based conditional and joint analysis, to remove genetic effects on SA mediated by psychiatric disorders. We investigated the shared and divergent genetic architectures of SA, psychiatric disorders, and other known risk factors. Results Two loci reached genome-wide significance for SA: the major histocompatibility complex and an intergenic locus on chromosome 7, the latter of which remained associated with SA after conditioning on psychiatric disorders and replicated in an independent cohort from the Million Veteran Program. This locus has been implicated in risk-taking behavior, smoking, and insomnia. SA showed strong genetic correlation with psychiatric disorders, particularly major depression, and also with smoking, pain, risk-taking behavior, sleep disturbances, lower educational attainment, reproductive traits, lower socioeconomic status, and poorer general health. After conditioning on psychiatric disorders, the genetic correlations between SA and psychiatric disorders decreased, whereas those with nonpsychiatric traits remained largely unchanged. Conclusions Our results identify a risk locus that contributes more strongly to SA than other phenotypes and suggest a shared underlying biology between SA and known risk factors that is not mediated by psychiatric disorders.Peer reviewe

Large variation in the movement of individual broiler chickens tracked in a commercial house using ultra-wideband backpacks

Abstract Our understanding of the movement patterns of individual broiler chickens in large flocks is extremely limited. Here we report the use of a Real Time Locating System to track individual broilers in a house of 28 000 birds. Broilers were fitted with backpacks containing ultra-wideband tags on day 21 (N = 8 broilers) or day 24 (N = 9 broilers), with tags recording positioning and distance data until Day 38. Tagged birds were penned overnight on Day 31 to avoid ‘thinning’. We found no clear evidence of broilers consistently creating similar sized “home ranges”. Some broilers spent most time < 10 m from where they were originally found while others visited at least 90% of the house in the period before thinning. While some broilers rapidly returned to the area they were collected from at thinning, the majority did not. Movement data suggested that broilers that restricted themselves to smaller areas of the house were not necessarily less active. Although there was an average reduction in movement with age, this was not linear and there was individual variation. There was also no clear association between movement patterns and broiler weight or gait score, suggesting a more complicated relationship between activity, ranging and some welfare measures

Health, welfare and lifetime performance implications of alternative hatching and early life management systems for broiler chickens

Broiler chicks are typically hatched in a hatchery, exposing them to handling and transportation before being placed on the farm where (dry) feed and water is offered. This study compared different early life systems, including: (1) typical practice (control), (2) typical practice with wet feed offered upon placement, (3) access to water at the hatchery, (4) access to feed and water at the hatchery, (5) hatching on the farm. Birds were placed in groups of approximately 500 (day 0), with six replicates per treatment. Measures were taken between placement and slaughter (day 39) and included chick quality (navel and red hock scores), body weight, feed conversion ratio (FCR), mortality, gait and litter conditions scores, and behavioral and post-mortem assessments. There were no apparent treatment effects on gait score, play behaviour or novel object test measures, and no consistent effects on litter quality. Chick quality was only evaluated in Treatments 1 and 5 and was numerically worse in Treatment 5. Body weight at slaughter was lowest in Treatment 2, and did not differ between other treatments. Overall FCR was lowest (best) in Treatment 1, and did not differ between other treatments. There was higher overall mortality in Treatments 3 and 4 than in other treatments apart from Treatment 5. Treatment 4 appeared to promote feeding behaviour upon placement, and Treatment 5 birds rested the most, significantly more than in Treatment 2. Treatment 5 birds had the greatest bursa weights, and tibial dyschondroplasia appeared worse in Treatment 4. There were no consistent effects of early access to feed and water on gastrointestinal tract weight measures at slaughter. Compared to the control, there were few benefits in providing feed and/or water in the hatchery, or wet feed. Some benefits of in-house hatching were found, but negative effects were also apparent

Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation for a BCR-FGFR1 Myeloproliferative Neoplasm Presenting as Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Hematopoietic myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNS) with rearrangements of the receptor tyrosine kinase FGFR1 gene, located on chromosome 8p11, are uncommon and associated with diverse presentations such as atypical chronic myeloid leukemia, acute myeloid leukemia, or an acute T- or B-lymphoblastic leukemia, reflecting the hematopoietic stem cell origin of the disease. A review of MPN patients with the t(8;22) translocation that results in a chimeric BCR-FGFR1 fusion gene reveals that this disease either presents or rapidly transforms into an acute leukemia that is generally unresponsive to currently available chemotherapeutic regimens including tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIS). The first case of a rare BCR-FGFR1 MPN presenting in a B-acute lymphoblastic phase who underwent allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) with a subsequent sustained complete molecular remission is described. Allogeneic HSCT is currently the only available therapy capable of achieving long-term remission in BCR-FGFR1 MPN patients

Behavioural and physiological responses of heifer calves to acute stressors:Long-term consistency and relationship with adult reactivity to milking

<p>The present study investigated the long-term consistency of individual differences in dairy cattles' responses in tests of behavioural and hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis reactivity, as well as the relationship between responsiveness in behavioural tests and the reaction to first milking. Two cohorts of heifer calves, Cohorts 1 (N = 25) and 2 (N = 16), respectively, were examined longitudinally from the rearing period until adulthood. Cohort 1 heifers were subjected to open field (OF), novel object (NO), restraint, and response to a human tests at 7 months of age, and were again observed in an OF test during first pregnancy between 22 and 24 months of age. Subsequently, inhibition of milk ejection and stepping and kicking behaviours were recorded in Cohort 1 heifers during their first machine milking. Cohort 2 heifers were individually subjected to OF and NO tests as well as two HPA axis reactivity tests (determining ACTH and/or cortisol response profiles after administration of exogenous CRH and ACTH, respectively) at 6 months of age and during first lactation at approximately 29 months of age. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to condense correlated response measures (to behavioural tests and to milking) within ages into independent dimensions underlying heifers' reactivity. Heifers demonstrated consistent individual differences in locomotion and vocalisation during an OF test from rearing to first pregnancy (Cohort 1) or first lactation (Cohort 2). Individual differences in struggling in a restraint test at 7 months of age reliably predicted those in OF locomotion during first pregnancy in Cohort 1 heifers. Cohort 2 animals with high cortisol responses to OF and NO tests and high avoidance of the novel object at 6 months of age also exhibited enhanced cortisol responses to OF and NO tests at 29 months of age. Measures of HPA axis reactivity, locomotion, vocalisation and adrenocortical and behavioural responses to novelty were largely uncorrelated, supporting the idea that stress responsiveness in dairy cows is mediated by multiple independent underlying traits. Inhibition of milk ejection and stepping and kicking behaviours during first machine milking were not related to earlier struggling during restraint, locomotor responses to OF and NO tests, or the behavioural interaction with a novel object. Heifers with high rates of OF and NO vocalisation and short latencies to first contact with the human at 7 months of age exhibited better milk ejection during first machine milking. This suggests that low underlying sociality might be implicated in the inhibition of milk ejection at the beginning of lactation in heifers. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.</p>