Productive performance, carcass and meat quality of intact and castrated gilts slaughtered at 106 or 122 kg BW

A total of 200 (Landrace3Large White dam3Pietrain3Large White sire) gilts of 5063 days of age (23.361.47 kg BW) were used to investigate the effects of castration (intact gilt, IG v. castrated gilt, CG) and slaughter weight (SW; 106 v. 122 kg BW) on productive performance, carcass and meat quality. Four treatments were arranged factorially and five replicates of 10 pigs each per treatment. Half of the gilts were ovariectomized at 58 days of age (8 days after the beginning of the trial at 29.861.64 kg BW), whereas the other half remained intact. The pigs were slaughtered at 106 or 122 kg BW. Meat samples were taken at Musculus longissimus thoracis at the level of the last rib and subcutaneous fat samples were taken at the tail insertion. For the entire experimental period, CG had higher ( P,0.05) BW gain and higher ( P,0.001) backfat and Musculus gluteus medius fat thickness than IG. However, IG had higher ( P,0.05) loin and trimmed primal cut yields than CG. Meat quality was similar for IG and CG but the proportion of linoleic acid in subcutaneous fat was higher ( P,0.001) for IG. Pigs slaughtered at 122 kg BW had higher ( P,0.001) feed intake and poorer feed efficiency than pigs slaughtered at 106 kg BW. An increase in SW improved ( P,0.001) carcass yield but decreased ( P,0.05) trimmed primal cut yield. Meat from pigs slaughtered at the heavier BW was redder (a*; P,0.001) and had more ( P,0.01) intramuscular fat and less thawing ( P,0.05) and cooking ( P,0.10) loss than meat from pigs slaughtered at the lighter BW. In addition, pigs slaughtered at 122 kg BW had less ( P,0.01) linoleic acid content in subcutaneous fat than pigs slaughtered at 106 kg BW. Castration of gilts and slaughtering at heavier BW are useful practices for the production of heavy pigs destined to the dry-cured industry in which a certain amount of fat in the carcass is required. In contrast, when the carcasses are destined to fresh meat production, IG slaughtered at 106 kg BW is a more efficient alternative

Actividad física, ejercicio y deporte en la lucha contra la obesidad infantil y juvenil

El propósito del presente documento es proponer desde el grupo de expertos en ejercicio físico y salud de EXERNET (Red Española de Investigación en Ejercicio Físico y Salud) una serie de recomendaciones sobre la práctica de la actividad física y deportiva que a nivel individual, familiar e institucional ayuden a prevenir y tratar la obesidad infantil y juvenil, basadas en la evidencia científi ca actual

Uncovering Suitable Reference Proteins for Expression Studies in Human Adipose Tissue with Relevance to Obesity

Protein expression studies based on the two major intra-abdominal human fat depots, the subcutaneous and the omental fat, can shed light into the mechanisms involved in obesity and its co-morbidities. Here we address, for the first time, the identification and validation of reference proteins for data standardization, which are essential for accurate comparison of protein levels in expression studies based on fat from obese and non-obese individuals.To uncover adipose tissue proteins equally expressed either in omental and subcutaneous fat depots (study 1) or in omental fat from non-obese and obese individuals (study 2), we have reanalyzed our previously published data based on two-dimensional fluorescence difference gel electrophoresis. Twenty-four proteins (12 in study 1 and 12 in study 2) with similar expression levels in all conditions tested were selected and identified by mass spectrometry. Immunoblotting analysis was used to confirm in adipose tissue the expression pattern of the potential reference proteins and three proteins were validated: PARK7, ENOA and FAA. Western Blot analysis was also used to test customary loading control proteins. ENOA, PARK7 and the customary loading control protein Beta-actin showed steady expression profiles in fat from non-obese and obese individuals, whilst FAA maintained steady expression levels across paired omental and subcutaneous fat samples.ENOA, PARK7 and Beta-actin are proper reference standards in obesity studies based on omental fat, whilst FAA is the best loading control for the comparative analysis of omental and subcutaneous adipose tissues either in obese and non-obese subjects. Neither customary loading control proteins GAPDH and TBB5 nor CALX are adequate standards in differential expression studies on adipose tissue. The use of the proposed reference proteins will facilitate the adequate analysis of proteins differentially expressed in the context of obesity, an aim difficult to achieve before this study

Exosomes derived from mesenchymal stem cells enhance radiotherapy-induced cell death in tumor and metastatic tumor foci

We have recently shown that radiotherapy may not only be a successful local and regional treatment but, when combined with MSCs, may also be a novel systemic cancer therapy. This study aimed to investigate the role of exosomes derived from irradiated MSCs in the delay of tumor growth and metastasis after treatment with MSC + radiotherapy (RT). The tumor cell loss rates found after treatment with the combination of MSC and RT and for exclusive RT, were: 44.4% % and 12,1%, respectively. Concomitant and adjuvant use of RT and MSC, increased the mice surviving time 22,5% in this group, with regard to the group of mice treated with exclusive RT and in a 45,3% respect control group. Moreover, the number of metastatic foci found in the internal organs of the mice treated with MSC + RT was 60% less than the mice group treated with RT alone. We reasoned that the exosome secreted by the MSC, could be implicated in tumor growth delay and metastasis control after treatment. Our results show that exosomes derived form MSCs, combined with radiotherapy, are determinant in the enhancement of radiation effects observed in the control of metastatic spread of melanoma cells and suggest that exosome-derived factors could be involved in the bystander, and abscopal effects found after treatment of the tumors with RT plus MSC. Radiotherapy itself may not be systemic, although it might contribute to a systemic effect when used in combination with mesenchymal stem cells owing the ability of irradiated MSCs-derived exosomes to increase the control of tumor growth and metastasis.This work was supported by CNPq, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico – Brasil, Junta de Andalucía, project of Excellence from Junta de Andalucía P12-CTS-383 to FJO, Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness SAF2015-70520-R to FJO and JMRdA, RTICC RD12/0036/0026 and CIBER Cáncer ISCIII CB16/12/00421 to FJO

Informe: Derecho del trabajo y de la seguridad social en España en 2013. Algunos puntos críticos

Este documento intenta reflejar algunos de los principales cambios y novedades del ordenamiento laboral español en 2013, levantando acta de cómo la mutabilidad de nuestro Derecho del Trabajo es imparable. Este informe, consciente de ello, ofrece una selección de elementos esenciales, a juicio de sus autores, especialistas en cada una de las materias, encuadrados en la Sección Juvenil de la Asociación Española de Derecho del Trabajo y de la Seguridad Social. En él, conforme a la organización de dicha Sección en grupos de trabajo, se abordan las novedades más relevantes en materia de derechos fundamentales inespecíficos, contratación laboral, vicisitudes del contrato de trabajo, Derecho colectivo, conciliación y corresponsabilidad, protección social y prevención de riesgos laborales. This paper tries to show some of the many changes and novelties in Spanish Labour Law during 2013, drawing up a record of the unstoppable character of our Labour legal system. This report offers a selection of essential elements, according to its authors, all of them specialists in each one of the subjects, being part of the Young Scholars’ Section of the Spanish Association for Labour and Social Security Law. According to the organization of the said Section in working groups, we can find novelties concerning unspecific fundamental rights, work contracts, the life of the work contract and collective Labour Law, reconciliation and co responsibility, social protection and occupational risk prevention