Effective use of microbial biomass products to facilitate the complete replacement of fishery resources in diets for the black tiger shrimp, Penaeus monodon

A series of experiments were conducted with black tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon) juveniles to firstly determine the effects of reducing fishmeal inclusion in a diet and then to evaluate the potential for a microbial bioactive to support complete replacement of both fishmeal and fish oil in feeds when fed under clear-water and green-water conditions. The isoproteic and isoenergetic replacement of fishmeal resulted in a consistent decline in growth performance indicating that at every decrease in fishmeal below an inclusion level of 45% there was a decline in performance. In a subsequent trial undertaken in a clear-water tank system diets devoid of both fishmeal and fish oil fed to shrimp were demonstrated to produce poorer performance than a fishmeal and fish oil reference diet. However the addition of a microbial bioactive to the diet resulted in not only a compensation for the replacement of these ingredients but also additional growth. Replication of the clear-water trial in a green-water tank system not only produced similar results, but also showed that the green-water system largely compensated for the performance lost through replacement of fishmeal and fish oil. However it was also shown that the use of the microbial bioactive in the diets still resulted in improved growth performance of shrimp. This study has effectively demonstrated a viable strategy for not only a complete replacement of all fishery products in shrimp diets, but also an improved performance strategy. © 2014

Identification of genes involved in reproduction and lipid pathway metabolism in wild and domesticated shrimps

The aims of this study were to identify genes involved in reproduction and lipid pathway metabolism in Penaeus monodon and correlate their expression with reproductive performance. Samples of the hepatopancreas and ovaries were obtained from a previous study of the reproductive performance of wild and domesticated P. monodon broodstock. Total mRNA from the domesticated broodstock was used to create two next generation sequencing cDNA libraries enabling the identification of 11 orthologs of key genes in reproductive and nutritional metabolic pathways in P. monodon. These were identified from the library of de novo assembled contigs, including the description of 6 newly identified genes. Quantitative RT-PCR of these genes in the hepatopancreas prior to spawning showed that the domesticated mature females significantly showed higher expression of the Pm Elovl4, Pm COX and Pm SUMO genes. The ovaries of domesticated females had a significantly decreased expression of the Pm Elovl4 genes. In the ovaries of newly spawned females, a significant correlation was observed between hepatosomatic index and the expression of Pm FABP and also between total lipid content and the expression of Pm CYP4. Although not significant, the highest levels of correlation were found between relative fecundity and Pm CRP and Pm CYP4 expression, and between hatching rate and Pm Nvd and Pm RXR expression. This study reports the discovery of genes involved in lipid synthesis, steroid biosynthesis and reproduction in P. monodon. These results indicate that genes encoding enzymes involved in lipid metabolism pathways might be potential biomarkers to assess reproductive performance.&nbsp

Feed Containing Novacq Improves Resilience of Black Tiger Shrimp, Penaeus Monodon, to Gill-associated Virus-induced Mortality

The ability of Novacq to improve resilience of black tiger shrimp, Penaeus monodon, to infection and mortality induced by gill-associated virus (GAV) was investigated. Over a 26-d period, shrimp were fed pellets with or without 10% Novacq. Following this, four replicate tanks, each containing 10 shrimp that had been fed either diet, were maintained as-is, injected with saline or injected with GAV inoculum (i.e., 40 shrimp for each of the six groups). For shrimp (n=20) in two of each group of four tanks, survival was monitored daily over 14d and a pleopod was sampled from each shrimp on Days 0 and 14. For the other two tanks, a pleopod was sampled from each shrimp on Days 0, 3, 7, 10, and 14 to track changes in GAV loads over time. Survival was significantly higher (P<0.05) from Day 7 onward among the group fed Novacq. GAV infection loads appeared to vary more between individuals in the Novacq diet cohort, but overall were not reduced significantly at any time points post-challenge compared to shrimp tested from the Control diet cohort.&nbsp

Human metabolism and elimination of the anthocyanin, cyanidin-3-glucoside: a 13C-tracer study

BACKGROUND: Evidence suggests that the consumption of anthocyanin-rich foods beneficially affects cardiovascular health; however, the absorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination (ADME) of anthocyanin-rich foods are relatively unknown. OBJECTIVE: We investigated the ADME of a (13)C5-labeled anthocyanin in humans. DESIGN: Eight male participants consumed 500 mg isotopically labeled cyanidin-3-glucoside (6,8,10,3',5'-(13)C5-C3G). Biological samples were collected over 48 h, and (13)C and (13)C-labeled metabolite concentrations were measured by using isotope-ratio mass spectrometry and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. RESULTS: The mean +/- SE percentage of (13)C recovered in urine, breath, and feces was 43.9 +/- 25.9% (range: 15.1-99.3% across participants). The relative bioavailability was 12.38 +/- 1.38% (5.37 +/- 0.67% excreted in urine and 6.91 +/- 1.59% in breath). Maximum rates of (13)C elimination were achieved 30 min after ingestion (32.53 +/- 14.24 mug(13)C/h), whereas (13)C-labeled metabolites peaked (maximum serum concentration: 5.97 +/- 2.14 mumol/L) at 10.25 +/- 4.14 h. The half-life for (13)C-labeled metabolites ranged between 12.44 +/- 4.22 and 51.62 +/- 22.55 h. (13)C elimination was greatest between 0 and 1 h for urine (90.30 +/- 15.28 mug/h), at 6 h for breath (132.87 +/- 32.23 mug/h), and between 6 and 24 h for feces (557.28 +/- 247.88 mug/h), whereas the highest concentrations of (13)C-labeled metabolites were identified in urine (10.77 +/- 4.52 mumol/L) and fecal samples (43.16 +/- 18.00 mumol/L) collected between 6 and 24 h. Metabolites were identified as degradation products, phenolic, hippuric, phenylacetic, and phenylpropenoic acids. CONCLUSION: Anthocyanins are more bioavailable than previously perceived, and their metabolites are present in the circulation fo

Nuclear energy in the public sphere: Anti-nuclear movements vs. industrial lobbies in Spain (1962-1979)

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11024-014-9263-0This article examines the role of the Spanish Atomic Forum as the representative of the nuclear sector in the public arena during the golden years of the nuclear power industry from the 1960s to 1970s. It focuses on the public image concerns of the Spanish nuclear lobby and the subsequent information campaigns launched during the late 1970s to counteract demonstrations by the growing and heterogeneous anti-nuclear movement. The role of advocacy of nuclear energy by the Atomic Forum was similar to that in other countries, but the situation in Spain had some distinguishing features. Anti-nuclear protest in Spain peaked in 1978 paralleling the debates of a new National Energy Plan in Congress, whose first draft had envisaged a massive nuclearization of the country. We show how the approval of the Plan in July 1979, with a significant reduction in the nuclear energy component, was influenced by the anti-nuclear protest movements in Spain. Despite the efforts of the Spanish Atomic Forum to counter its message, the anti-nuclear movement was strengthened by reactions to the Three Mile Island accident in March 1979

Rapid determination of anti-tuberculosis drug resistance from whole-genome sequences

Mycobacterium tuberculosis drug resistance (DR) challenges effective tuberculosis disease control. Current molecular tests examine limited numbers of mutations, and although whole genome sequencing approaches could fully characterise DR, data complexity has restricted their clinical application. A library (1,325 mutations) predictive of DR for 15 anti-tuberculosis drugs was compiled and validated for 11 of them using genomic-phenotypic data from 792 strains. A rapid online ‘TB-Profiler’ tool was developed to report DR and strain-type profiles directly from raw sequences. Using our DR mutation library, in silico diagnostic accuracy was superior to some commercial diagnostics and alternative databases. The library will facilitate sequence-based drug-susceptibility testing

HLA-DQA1*05 carriage associated with development of anti-drug antibodies to infliximab and adalimumab in patients with Crohn's Disease

Anti-tumor necrosis factor (anti-TNF) therapies are the most widely used biologic drugs for treating immune-mediated diseases, but repeated administration can induce the formation of anti-drug antibodies. The ability to identify patients at increased risk for development of anti-drug antibodies would facilitate selection of therapy and use of preventative strategies.This article is freely available via Open Access. Click on Publisher URL to access the full-text

Phenotypic Characterization of EIF2AK4 Mutation Carriers in a Large Cohort of Patients Diagnosed Clinically With Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension.

BACKGROUND: Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a rare disease with an emerging genetic basis. Heterozygous mutations in the gene encoding the bone morphogenetic protein receptor type 2 (BMPR2) are the commonest genetic cause of PAH, whereas biallelic mutations in the eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2 alpha kinase 4 gene (EIF2AK4) are described in pulmonary veno-occlusive disease/pulmonary capillary hemangiomatosis. Here, we determine the frequency of these mutations and define the genotype-phenotype characteristics in a large cohort of patients diagnosed clinically with PAH. METHODS: Whole-genome sequencing was performed on DNA from patients with idiopathic and heritable PAH and with pulmonary veno-occlusive disease/pulmonary capillary hemangiomatosis recruited to the National Institute of Health Research BioResource-Rare Diseases study. Heterozygous variants in BMPR2 and biallelic EIF2AK4 variants with a minor allele frequency of <1:10 000 in control data sets and predicted to be deleterious (by combined annotation-dependent depletion, PolyPhen-2, and sorting intolerant from tolerant predictions) were identified as potentially causal. Phenotype data from the time of diagnosis were also captured. RESULTS: Eight hundred sixty-four patients with idiopathic or heritable PAH and 16 with pulmonary veno-occlusive disease/pulmonary capillary hemangiomatosis were recruited. Mutations in BMPR2 were identified in 130 patients (14.8%). Biallelic mutations in EIF2AK4 were identified in 5 patients with a clinical diagnosis of pulmonary veno-occlusive disease/pulmonary capillary hemangiomatosis. Furthermore, 9 patients with a clinical diagnosis of PAH carried biallelic EIF2AK4 mutations. These patients had a reduced transfer coefficient for carbon monoxide (Kco; 33% [interquartile range, 30%-35%] predicted) and younger age at diagnosis (29 years; interquartile range, 23-38 years) and more interlobular septal thickening and mediastinal lymphadenopathy on computed tomography of the chest compared with patients with PAH without EIF2AK4 mutations. However, radiological assessment alone could not accurately identify biallelic EIF2AK4 mutation carriers. Patients with PAH with biallelic EIF2AK4 mutations had a shorter survival. CONCLUSIONS: Biallelic EIF2AK4 mutations are found in patients classified clinically as having idiopathic and heritable PAH. These patients cannot be identified reliably by computed tomography, but a low Kco and a young age at diagnosis suggests the underlying molecular diagnosis. Genetic testing can identify these misclassified patients, allowing appropriate management and early referral for lung transplantation

The development and validation of a scoring tool to predict the operative duration of elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy

Background: The ability to accurately predict operative duration has the potential to optimise theatre efficiency and utilisation, thus reducing costs and increasing staff and patient satisfaction. With laparoscopic cholecystectomy being one of the most commonly performed procedures worldwide, a tool to predict operative duration could be extremely beneficial to healthcare organisations. Methods: Data collected from the CholeS study on patients undergoing cholecystectomy in UK and Irish hospitals between 04/2014 and 05/2014 were used to study operative duration. A multivariable binary logistic regression model was produced in order to identify significant independent predictors of long (> 90 min) operations. The resulting model was converted to a risk score, which was subsequently validated on second cohort of patients using ROC curves. Results: After exclusions, data were available for 7227 patients in the derivation (CholeS) cohort. The median operative duration was 60 min (interquartile range 45–85), with 17.7% of operations lasting longer than 90 min. Ten factors were found to be significant independent predictors of operative durations > 90 min, including ASA, age, previous surgical admissions, BMI, gallbladder wall thickness and CBD diameter. A risk score was then produced from these factors, and applied to a cohort of 2405 patients from a tertiary centre for external validation. This returned an area under the ROC curve of 0.708 (SE = 0.013, p  90 min increasing more than eightfold from 5.1 to 41.8% in the extremes of the score. Conclusion: The scoring tool produced in this study was found to be significantly predictive of long operative durations on validation in an external cohort. As such, the tool may have the potential to enable organisations to better organise theatre lists and deliver greater efficiencies in care